In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Draco Malfoy said:
"You know, I'm surprised that the Daily Prophet hasn't done a report on all these attacks. I suppose Dumbledore is trying to hush it all up. Father always said Dumbledore was the worst thing that ever happened to this place."
Was it true?
If so, then why wasn't the Daily Prophet reporting?
If not, then what's going on? Was Draco misinformed?
For the Daily Prophet to report on the attacks it has to be informed of them. At the time Draco gives that statement the following individuals have been attacked:
None of those have relatives who would have easy access to a Prophet reporter, possibly with the exception of Mr Filch, who Dumbledore does indeed have some control over, being that he is his employer. Of the others, we are iirc not even told if their parents are informed, Colin and Justin are after all both Muggleborn.
Slytherin students might of course tell their parents but remember, this whole thing is a plot by Lucius Malfoy - a fact Draco himself is unaware of. Lucius does not want this story to be blown up - at least not just yet, I believe. He wants to remove Dumbledore from office, and that requires there to be angry parents, but he needs to channel that anger. Muggleborn students' parents don't usually get the Daily Prophet and since it - so far - only effected Muggleborns most parents that get the paper, will probably think their children to be quite save if they are half- or pure-blood. So for it being worthy of printing it, and getting that anger Lucius is probably waiting for a victim that would be more meaningful to the more bigotted parents (which Penelope will eventually turn out to be).
So I'm not so sure Draco is right in blaming Dumbledore on the fact there is nothing in the paper, his own father could very well be pressuring them to keep quiet for now as well.
The reason why Daily Prophet didn't write about the attacks was not explicitly mentioned in the book. So it leaves space for speculation.
The fact is that Daily Prophet was heavily influenced by the Ministry of Magic. We learn a lot about it in "The Order of the Phoenix" and further books. We don't know if Fudge was leaning on the Daily Prophet during Harry's second year at Hogwarts, but it is safe to assume he already had the power to do that.
Cornelius Fudge really wasn't a firm and confident person. He cared a lot about his image. Again we learn much about him at the end of "The Goblet of Fire" and in further books.
Already in "Chamber of Secrets" (chapter 14: Cornelius Fudge) the Minister says:
Things’ve gone far enough. Ministry’s got to act.
Ministry’s got to do something — the school governors have been in touch —
Look at it from my point of view, (...) I’m under a lot of pressure. Got to be seen to be doing something.
(...) Dumbledore suspended — no, no — last thing we want just now —
See here, Malfoy, if Dumbledore can’t stop them [the attacks], (...) I mean to say, who can?
I read those quotes as the information about the attacks started to spread and Fudge was expected to somehow remedy the situation. But the Minister had no other idea what to do except from counting on Dumbledore to solve the problem himself.
My conclusion is that the last thing Fudge wanted was the article in the Daily Prophet, which ould have put even more pressure on him. So the Minister could lean on the newspaper editors not to write about the attacks at Hogwarts.
