Minecraft is arguably one of the most played titles in the world. This sandbox game was launched in 2011 and has been garnering a huge fanbase since then. Actually, this title is more than a game, where you can literally build your own world in it.
Be it hanging out with your favorite people virtually or hosting a debate in the in-game world, you can do it all. However, there is another huge aspect of this game that no title could have ever pulled off. Gaming and all is okay, but have you ever wondered if a game can be the pillar of uncensored journalism worldwide?
Journalism is one of the four pillars of democracy in democratic countries. This is the main medium where we get to make ourselves aware of all the whereabouts around the world. Still, in some countries, the throat of journalism is strangled due to censorship so that the real saga doesn’t come to light.
That’s where Minecraft comes in. In this game, there is a place called The Uncensored Library. Now, what is it? The Uncensored Library is a virtual library that provides access to censored books and articles. It was created by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and BlockWorks, a Minecraft design collective, to give young gamers in countries with strict press censorship rules access to independent journalism.
The library was released on March 12, 2020, the World Day Against Cyber Censorship. It contains around 300 books in twelve wings, each representing a country where information may be limited. The library includes banned reporting from countries such as Mexico, Russia, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Brazil, and Eritrea.
In many countries, mainstream journalism is suppressed to a certain extent, if not entirely. Several popular articles, blogs, and other news content are banned due to specific censorship rules in respective countries. But in The Uncensored Library, you can find all the media content that is banned and is absolutely free to read.
This library can be accessed by anyone. All you have to do is download the map from the official server and connect to the Minecraft server. In this library, we can see many famous names of journalism around the globe. For example, Yulia Berezovskaia is a Russian journalist who runs Grani.ru, which is blocked in her country.
Another instance is Nguyen Van Dai, a news blogger from Vietnam, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Arabian journalist Hatice Cengiz is also a part of this library. Her husband was also a well-known Saudi dissident journalist who was killed by the agents of the Saudi government at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.
The Uncensored Library in Minecraft is a great and unique initiative that can potentially uncover all the truth that was deliberately dumped once. What’s your opinion on this? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.
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