The intelligence organization can control not just the internet but the media as well which can be simply maneuvered by providing an important information selectively.
The media cannot report an issue when the secret information is directly provided by the agency, as it is assumed to be an illegal conduct, which is one of the ways to control the news.
They might fall into a dilemma not to write, even if they believe it is necessary to make public, but the intelligence has asked not to with providing a classified document. The spy might have said it would become declassified sooner or later, but it is actually out of their control. In this way, the intelligence organization can control the media for their favors.
The spy has actually exploited the media more proactively. They might tell a secret intel to the media not to report, but at the same time provide a critical information which can be reported to the public. In this way, the journalist can get a certain result, hence the media can compromise not to research for the secret which the agency want to hide.
In this way, the spy can control an information available to the general public, at least partially. In the most of countries, there is a law to protect a classified information and the media cannot breach this law to tell the truth. It means the media really knows the classified from the official source, they cannot write anything at all.
This methodology is expanded to manipulate what they report as the spy can deliver the critical intel selectively, and eventually, the whole society is manipulated by the intelligence agency.
I can write whatever I want as far as legal because I have had no contract with the government and no classified intel provided by the government official. I have written a bunch of top secrets, but I have no idea it is really classified or not, which is why I can write in this way.
They tried quite hard to stop me writing like this, often using an illegal methodology including the electromagnetic wave technology, but there is a way to keep away from their control. On the other hand, the media cannot take the same stance as mine, as their job does not work when having a distance from the government. It basically implies we should realize the possibility that the information can be biased for the mass manipulation.
The spy can control the media more as they have an asset amongst journalists. If working as a free-lancer, the spy can easily work as an undercover agent, and of course, there is definitely an asset in the existing media as well.
The US government officially denies its existence that there is no spy in the media, as the journalist can be endangered in the conflict zone if there is a spy amongst them, which means the asset or undercover in the media industry can be deeply hidden by the government.
As a matter of fact, the spy works at the media, who spreads an intel according to the intelligence operation. This is one of the active ways to control the media, which can be availed for the counterintelligence to discredit an existing information or to hide the truth.
This media control can be conducted by a public figure. This control can be operated by the individual who is initially an intelligence asset, but sometimes can be plotted to avail an appropriate person who originally holds favoring idea to the spy. It basically means it is hard to find out who is an asset of the agency or foreign intelligence just according to what they have mentioned, but the intelligence organization definitely employs this methodology to control the public opinion.