Censorship and the Ability to Report the News

As I write this, Taiwan is about to get hit by a typhoon. With childish chuckling, I noted the name: Typhoon Longwang. (No, really.)

As described by Tiki last night, though, the professionals at The Weather Channel found it not just amusing in a juvenile way... but potentially offensive. They couldn't say the name of the storm on the air.

I guess this would be more of a concern if the impacted area was also part of their broadcast area. (Imagine if they couldn't have called Hurricane Rita, "Hurricane Rita," because the word "Rita" made people giggle.) But, still...