I have to agree with the first commenter; I found my eyes skipping to the next [REDACTED] rather than reading the actual story, so black bars or empty spaces would definitely be prefered.

I have to admit I also had a problem with the actual redaction. As I work in an Information and Privacy office up here in Canada, I saw V. ... and thought 'they can't redact that because he was a government official working in his official capacity'.

LOL... I need to get out more obviously.