Chapter 2: LOCAL CENSORSHIP STANDARDS OF WORKS OF ART 2.1 Censorship and censorship standards Censorship is generally the process(es) leading to suppression of speech, public communication or other information which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, politically incorrect or inconvenient as determined by, authorities, groups or institutions in a state. The information so censored could be conveyed through a number of media such as literary works, music, film, pictures, maps, other works of art such as paintings, sculptures and so on. The need to censor information being shared with the public has always been based on different grounds and/or criteria. These grounds have been reduced to theories of justification of censorship in any given situation. First, the moral motivation insists on the removal of materials that are considered obscene or otherwise regarded as morally questionable. All forms of pornographic material are often censored in most jurisdictions under this rationale with criminal sanctions for possessing or in some instances offering such for sale without a licence. Second, the military censorship theory focuses on keeping military intelligence, tactics and information confidential and hiding it from the enemy. This is used to counter espionage, which is the process of obtaining military information. This theory is often used to justify laws such as official secrets for information regarded as prejudicial to national security such as the Official Secrets Act discussed above. Third, the political censorship ideology dictates that governments hold back information from their citizens even by intercepting communication intended for public consumption by the producers of such information. This is exertion of control over the kind of information the populace would consume and prevent free expression. Perhaps this is the most controversial ground for censorship as it is done clandestinely without revealing the actual reason by banning of certain music, publications, films and other works of art. We must state that the political theory is not a legitimate ground for censoring materials 40 | P a g e