Self-Censorship by Journalists
As former Washington Post columnist Dan Froomkin wrote in 2006:
Mainstream-media political journalism is in danger of becoming increasingly irrelevant, but not because of the Internet, or even Comedy Central. The threat comes from inside. It comes from journalists being afraid to do what journalists were put on this green earth to do. . . .
If journalists do want to speak out about an issue, they also are subject to tremendous pressure by their editors or producers to kill the story.
Drumming Up Support for War
large news outlets studiously avoided any real criticism of the government's claims in the run up to the Iraq war
Censorship by the Government
Finally, as if the media's own interest in promoting war is not strong enough, the government has exerted tremendous pressure on the media to report things a certain way.
clipped from: georgewashington2.blogspot.com