Gym chain bans cable news - is that censorship?

I totally get it. Gyms are all about health promotion. Cable news channels send a constant stream of high drama and negativity into the airwaves. Absorbing all that results in stress, which in turn adversely affects a person's health. 

So when the executives of Life Time Fitness decided to ban CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and CNBC from TVs in their 128 gyms, they did so with the stated goal of health promotion. USA, A&E, Discovery, HGTV, ESPN and local over-the-air stations remain. 
  

As I said, I get it. The philosophy of minimizing negativity as a way of health is my philosophy as well. It's the driving force behind this blog and the articles and books I write. 

But banning a news outlet, even one with dubious credulity, is censorship. Period. Whatever their intention, this action removes choice from the hands of individual members and places it in the hands of a corporation. It's a slippery slope. 

As a nation which prides itself on freedoms including a free press, we need to keep our eyes open to the insidious creep of censorship.