I don't see that there's necessarily anything sinister in the "Manichean drama" frame adopted by the media. Plausibly, it's just a cultural meme overlaid by journalistic laziness. We grew up in a culture where Russia + Spies = James Bond, no ambiguity about who's wearing the black hats. Sure, there is a minority "John Le Carré" strand, where things are a bit more complicated, but that sells fewer newspapers.

As for the "news black-out" on the Scaramella libel case. It might seem sinister that this isn't being reported : after all, there are spies, radioactive suitcases etc., all pretty exciting. But unfortunately it doesn't fit the meme (who's wearing the black hats here?) and it's so complicated that I can imagine an honest journalist looking at it, realising it will take him days to merely understand the available evidence, and that he won't be able to distill it into an honest short article that thousands of people would take the trouble to read.

Back to Litvinenko : the media frame having been established long ago, I'm sure there are plenty of journalists who realise it's not that simple; but lack the resources or influence to write, and get published, a lengthy article full of complex explanations and the bold conclusion : "Well, actually, we don't know what's going on at all!"

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}