It is difficult to imagine that the media is owned, or that the media is regulated or worse that the science we have been fed has also been censored. (for our own good).
Not really hard to imagine
Congressional Hearings Expose Censorship of Science
http://www.ncac.org/Congressional_Hearings_Expose_Censorship_of_Science
Censorship in the Media
Democratic countries, on the other hand, take pride in upholding the principle of freedom of speech. People are free to say and write whatever they wish, with some carefully defined exceptions. But in a market economy, there is another
controlling power at work – the power of money. In North America, most mainstream publications depend on two income sources: subscriptions and advertisers. Both influence decisions about content. Readers must find the content relevant, interesting, tasteful, and entertaining, or they will drop their subscriptions. And advertisers will cancel their accounts if they consider the content to undermine or challenge their messages about the products they sell.
http://www.media-awareness.ca/engli...s/tobacco_advertising/censorship_in_media.cfm
Censorship of maps is also applied by Google maps, where certain areas are greyed out or areas are purposely left out-dated with old imagery.
Or how about this to hide the fact that there is censorship:
any information about existence of censorship and the legal basis of the censorship is censored.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship
It is a terrifying thought that such vital information could have been kept from us, through a relentless campaign of discrediting and disinformation by the CIA and governments in the know.
Not hard to imagine either - some rules of the game:
Disinformation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disinformation
Black propaganda
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_propaganda
Big Lie - a lie so "colossal" that no one would believe that someone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Lie
False flag operations are covert operations conducted by governments, corporations, or other organizations, which are designed to deceive the public
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag_operation
Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) is a tactic of rhetoric and fallacy used in sales, marketing, public relations, politics and propaganda.
FUD is generally a strategic attempt to influence public perception by disseminating negative information designed to undermine the credibility of their beliefs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_uncertainty_and_doubt
Internet police - The major purposes of internet police, depending on the state, are fighting cybercrime, as well as censorship, propaganda, and monitoring and manipulating the online public opinion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_brigades
I agree that the lack of information is frustrating and I also don't understand why or how information available from commerical astro photographers and astronomers could have kept such a secret.
It is easy when all the photo's are processed through 1 or 2 seperate companies, The last Mars mission, had all the photo's being processed by 1 company.
One needs to understand that there are many ways people can be kept quiet, through the signing of acts, such as the Patriot Act, National Security Acts, Official Secrets Acts, etc etc and also through financial gain, threat of imprisonment, financial loss, gag orders there are many ways to influence people and to "persuade" them it is in their best interests not to disclose or divulge sensitive information.