I think your issue should be with Reddit moderators not Ars.

ProPublica happily allows Ars to republish their stories by disclosing the source:

propublica.org/…/happy-birthday-creative-commons

Ars discloses the source compliantly:

arstechnica.com/…/doge-used-flawed-ai-tool-to-mun…

propublica.org/…/trump-doge-veterans-affairs-ai-c…

ProPublica literally thanks Ars above for spreading their stories.

The Ars headline (with its subheading) also says a lot more. So it’s just … going to get more upvotes, it’s better bait.

As for the second article getting squashed… Again Reddit moderators.

This looks like a nonsensical conspiracy theory … ProPublica was not suppressed or harmed. Ars literally spread their exact story. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if more people read the story because they see “ArsTechnica” and assume good content (because Ars has a super nice website and regularly has really good journalism on it).