Oftentimes, the actual news doesn’t dictate what is on the front page.

Editors have the opportunity to self-censor and “kill” a story that is deemed unfit for print — even if it is news.

It happened to David Wallis.

Wallis, then a columnist for The Washington Post, interviewed the director of Fair Trials Abroad, an human rights non-governmental organization that helps Europeans who face criminal charges outside their own country by providing legal assistance. In the column Wallis eventually wrote, the director of the organization criticized the Bush administration for its treatment of detainees in Guantanamo.

“They decided not to run it — the one that included criticism of the president,” Wallis said of the column. “It was a poor decision in my opinion.”

Wallis later compiled stories behind articles that were never published from across the nation and turned it into “Killed: Great Journalism Too Hot To Print.”

Wallis will present his lecture, “Killed: Media Self-Censorship in the Internet Age,” at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union.

During the lecture, he will share some of the stories from his book.

“I’m going to hopefully explain why worthy stories get killed unfairly and talk about self-censorship in the media,” Wallis said.

During his lecture, Wallis plans to speak on the variety of reasons editors are killing stories.

“We’ll look at the fear of offending advertising, political bias in the newsroom, concern over potential lawsuits, media consolidation and interoffice politics,” Wallis said. “We can’t forget the newsroom grudges.”

Wallis said censorship is usually the government coming down on the media, but self-censorship is a completely different concept.

“There is an unconscious censorship, where skittish editors decide not to run something because they fear its ramifications,” Wallis said. “It’s a fine time to think about what is missing in news coverage.”

Wallis’s lecture is sponsored by the Committee of Lectures, Ames Public Library, University Book Store, Parks Library and the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication.

Wallis was brought in for Banned Book Week, a national event from Sept. 25 to Oct. 2. The week is designed to allow society to highlight the intellectual freedom and the freedom to read.

Joyce O’Donnell, general book buyer and supervisor for the University Book Store, said the university likes to bring in a speaker during this time.

“Every year, we try to bring in a speaker or a panel to talk about the aspect of banning books and having the freedom to read what you want to without censorship,” she said.

The Ames Public Library will also sponsor events.

“Every year, the library participates in a celebration of freedom of expression and the freedom to read,” said Gina Millsap, Ames Public Library director.

Millsap said the United States was founded on the idea that individuals make their own choices. In the case of media self-censorship, however, readers are not able to have access to all ideas.

“There are always efforts to censor and to prevent all aspects of an issue from being heard. People don’t even think about it,” she said. “They have a right to choose what they will read and what they will not read. It is a part of the rights that we are all granted in the United States under the First Amendment.”

The week is a way to take the time out to recognize that these freedoms are important and need to be acknowledged, said Beverley Becker, associate director of the office for intellectual freedom of the American Library Association, a major sponsor of Banned Book Week.

“You need to protect it to make sure it is there tomorrow,” Becker said of the freedom to read.

She said the censorship issues are the same for books, the Internet and the press and that people need to be conscious of those issues.

“You should be able to look at a controversial topic from all points of view to clarify it and get down to the nub of it and find the truth,” Becker said. “You limit the ability of the people in the society to participate fully without all points of view.”