Whatever Happened to the Mainstream Media?

Unfortunately, that's fairly standard journalistic/editorial practice.

That's a carryover from the old publishing model when editors had absolute control over everything published -- omitted or distorted.

That's been the experience of nearly everyone who has ever submitted a commentary or letter to the newspapers -- that the "editing for brevity and clarity" is license for the editor to say what he wants to say -- rather than letting the original author say what they want to say -- in their own way and words.

Then everything came out sounding like it was written by the same one person -- as the vaunted, and only permissible "AP style."  So it is no coincidence that when they could, most opted for the Internet forums that allowed them to say what they want to say --in their own words -- which many publications still have the nasty habit of editing, suppressing and embellishing so that only the editorial point of view is permitted to be read.

Absolute power, corrupts absolutely.

That's a major reason for the rise of the Internet -- from the absolute control of those who owned the press, and now have such a difficult time of competing in the true marketplace of ideas, expressions and communications.