Routledge Companion to Freedom of Expression and Censorship

The Routledge Companion to Freedom of Expression and Censorship offers a thorough exploration of the debates surrounding this contentious topic, considering the importance placed upon it in democratic societies and the reasons frequently proposed for limiting and constraining it.

List of contents

Introduction: Freedom of Expression in Turbulent Times
John Steel and Julian Petley
Part One: Concepts and Histories
Chapter 1: Freedom of Expression as a Pre-Enlightenment Concept
Jordi Pujol
Chapter 2: Freedom of Expression, the Enlightenment and the Liberal Tradition
Geoff Kemp
Chapter 3: Histories of In/tolerance
Russell Blackford
Chapter 4: Literary influence and legal precedent: Censorship in the Court of the Chancery, 1710-1823
Paul Whickman
Chapter 5: The Quest for Truth and Knowledge
Kristoffer Ahlström-Vij
Chapter 6: Autonomy and Freedom of Expression
Eric Barendt
Chapter 7: Bentham and Security against misrule
Jesse Owen Hearns-Branaman
Chapter 8: Freedom of Expression in the 20th Century
Sue Curry-Jansen,
Chapter 9: Philosophies of Censorship and Control
Eric Barendt
Part Two: Global Perspectives
Chapter 10: Freedom of Expression in Latin America in Times of Populism: Between Western Normative Expectations and the Complexities on the Ground
Ezequiel Korin and Jairo Lugo-Ocando
Chapter 11: Protecting the pandemic press: Exploring press freedom in Africa during the Covid-19 pandemic
Bruce Mutsvairo and Kristin Skare Orgeret
Chapter 12: Media Freedom in the Arab Region
Noha Mellor
Chapter 13: Censorship and Freedom of Expression in China
Chris Fei Shen and Weiying Shi
Chapter 14: Oscillating between 'speech freedom' and 'national interests' - the contested boundaries of online Freedom of Expression in China
Yuan Zeng, and Tongzhou Ran
Chapter 15: Freedom of Expression and Democracy in Japan in the 2010s
Ryusaku Yamada
Chapter 16: Freedom of Expression and the legacy of colonialism: a view from France
Imen Neffati
Chapter 17: Faith and Toleration in Neoliberal Times: Australia as a Case Study
Adam Possamai
Part Three: Key Controversies
Chapter 18: The Harm in Hate Speech and in Holocaust Denial
Raphael Cohen-Almagor
Chapter 19: Feminism and pornography
Fionna Attwood and Julian Petley
Chapter 20: Political Correctness: The Right's Favourite Bugaboo
Valerie Scatamburlo-D'Annibale
Chapter 21: Free Speech, Cancel Culture and the 'war on woke'
John Steel
Chapter 22: Academic Freedom and Constrained Expression
Thomas Docherty
Chapter 23: Breaking News - Media Freedom in Crisis
Simon Dawes
Chapter 24: P2P speech regulation - Gossip, Reputation, and Norm Policing on Social Media
Julie Seaman
Chapter 25: Vitriol and voice: Battlegrounds to control employee expression on social media in work
Claire Taylor
Chapter 26: Emma Briant, "Hack Attacks: How Cyber Intimidation and Conspiracy Theories Drive the Spiral of 'Secrecy Hacking'"
Chapter 27: Violence, impunity and their impact on press freedom
Lada Trifonova Price
Part Four: Institutions, Technologies and Frameworks
Chapter 28: The Regulation of the Online World
Julian Petley
Chapter 29: Freedom of Expression and Human Rights: interrogating the focus at Strasbourg on political expression under Article 10 ECHR
Helen Fenwick
Chapter 30: The ECHR Perspective on Whistleblowing as Speech: A case study of 'national security' whistleblowing
Dimitrios Kagiaros
Chapter 31: National Security and the Extension of State Power
Paul Lashmar
Chapter 32: Marketing Communications and Media: Commercial Speech, Censorship and Control
Jonathan Hardy
Chapter 33: Regulating the Press in the UK
Tom O'Malley
Chapter 34: Freedom of the Press in Britain: From Radical to Reactionary... to Reinvigoration?
Aaron Ackerley
Chapter 35: "Should I stay (on Twitter) or should I go?" Three causes of journalistic self-censorship on Twitter
Chrysi Dagoula
Chapter 36: All the news that's fit to report? News values and the 'free press'
Tony Harcup
Index

About the author

John Steel is a Research Professor in Journalism in the School of Humanities and Journalism at the University of Derby. He has published in the areas of journalism and media history, journalism and its relationship to and with the public as well as journalism ethics and freedom of the press.
Julian Petley is Honorary and Emeritus Professor of Journalism in the Department of Social Sciences, Media and Communications at Brunel University London. He has a particular interest in media regulation of all kinds, and has published widely in this area. He is a member of the editorial boards of the British Journalism Review, Ethical Space and Porn Studies, and editor-in-chief of The Journal of British Cinema and Television.

Product details

• Authors: John Petley Steel
• Assisted by: Petley Julian (Editor), Steel John (Editor)
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 29.09.2025
• EAN: 9781032587110
• ISBN: 978-1-0-3258711-0
• No. of pages: 420
• Series: Routledge Media and Cultural Studies Companions
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History; Social sciences, law, business > Media, communication > General, dictionaries; History, Media Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Media Studies, Press & journalism, Humanities, News media and journalism, Entertainment & media law, Entertainment and media law