The censoring of the news a collaboration mostly with alternative media, political groups

Newspapers

While alternative news sources complain about government spying and secrecy and traditional news sources, who might be the most active in a form of censoring the news?

Mainstream newspapers evaluate what kind of stories consumers like, but they also have the responsibility to report the local news, which often means direct contact with sources.  Editors bear the responsibility of making sure assignments are given in reasonable fashion, involving the separate expertise of any given reporter, for a beat assignment.  And it is that reporter who examines and writes the news on that beat.  The specific orientation, or slant, of the story is supposed to be particularly on the parameters of what happened, as opposed to an editorial commentary.  There are other writers on staff who may offer opinions or editorials about news stories, however that is not the ordinary role of the beat reporter.  And the gate-keeping, in general, is the same for online city newspaper sites or print editions.

If the assignment involves something particularly tragic, several members of a staff may decide how to reveal names, dates and what details can be offered.  Often the main aspects of the story that are omitted are declarative statements that a person is guilty of something, even as arrests have been made, or the removal of a child's name or identity from a story.  For the most part, however, mainstream newspapers have a circulation that involves its local "audience" and whereas that audience may be dwindling with the advent of Internet and 24/7 Cable news, the fact is many people still maintain some allegiance to the town newspaper.

Alternative publications have more liberty to present different sides of a story, much of which can be helpful, but they also have the open territory for license, for stories that offer an agenda as opposed to a serious news story.  And to some extent there is also that degree of license to censor the news, to take out parts of a story that may not enhance one's point of view.  Newsmax.com offers an almost daily article about President Barack Obama, enhancing the negative point of view about his Presidency, along with polls that also foster the worst.  Alternative online newspapers are often the tabloid news of the digital world.

Bias may be in some ways part of all reporting, for the most fair and polished writer may still choose words that focus the reader in a certain direction more than another.  That form of censorship means the full story may not be provided but instead that part of the story that serves the purpose of the news outlet.

And many of these publications collaborate with political and social groups as well as businesses, because of financial relationships.  They may also be an arm of a political or government group, such as the publication, The Hill.    Advertising dollars from special interest groups can mean a good deal to a publication that wants to grow and maintain its staff and pay these people well.

So as censorship and all its ramifications is studied by the media and the culture, and folks debate over how much censorship should be done with respect to topics involving the government, it's clear that bias is part of the blogo-sphere, perhaps more than anywhere and involve those who most denigrate traditional reporters whose ethics offer at least some level of restraint.