Blacklisting

Censuring people
Compiling blacklists
Making hit lists

Implementation

In the United States, media managers protect their celebrity clients from those journalists likely to ask probing and difficult questions and depict them in a negative fashion, whether true or untrue. A journalist may also be blacklisted for writing bad reviews, for instance.

Claim

The ruthlessness with which certain elements in the media expose, sensationalize, and lie about the private lives of celebrities, without any regard to their privacy, integrity, and resulting personal impact, have made the lives of many celebrities unbearable. In response, many celebrities have requested those responsible to be blacklisted.

Counter-claim

Blacklisting, whilst understandable in cases such as the infamous British tabloid press, may also be used to prevent the media from investigating issues, and/or prevent any further investigations of issues which ethically do need to be made known to the public. In this context, blacklisting can be considered as undemocratic and abusing the right of freedom of speech.