I don't think this writer omitted it intentionally. I think it's because journalists that are too at-odds with corporate (or other dominant narrative) just have a harder time in their career. No-one gets censored, except in rare cases - they just don't have their contract extended. See https://cartoonistsrights.org/u-s-cartoonist-fired-after-cri... , but I imagine it's usually handled more subtly.

"In a Facebook post following his firing, Friday wrote that the incident showed “how fragile our rights to free speech and free press really are in the country.”"

Indeed.