| 20 December 1989 | United States: Pentagon press pool kept from the opening hours of the Panama invasion, December 1989 | United States (RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180) | Access bans | George H. W. Bush | Ongoing (6 April 1990) |
| 14 June 1989 | China expels foreign journalists and restricts coverage of the Tiananmen Square protests | China (RSF 2026 rank: 178th of 180) | Expulsion and visa denial | Li Peng | Sustained (1 January 1990) |
| October 1988 | United Kingdom bars broadcasters from airing Sinn Féin members' own voices | United Kingdom (RSF 2026 rank: 18th of 180) | Licensing and closure of outlets | Margaret Thatcher | Reversed (16 September 1994) |
| 18 September 1988 | Burma's new military government tightens pre-publication press controls after seizing power | Myanmar (RSF 2026 rank: 166th of 180) | Prior restraint | Saw Maung | Ongoing (1 January 1989) |
| 1987 | Malaysia: Printing Presses and Publications Act amended to bar court review of publishing permits, 1987 | Malaysia (RSF 2026 rank: 95th of 180) | Licensing and closure of outlets | Mahathir Mohamad | Sustained |
| 30 August 1986 | Soviet Union: arrest and seven-week detention of American correspondent Nicholas Daniloff in Moscow, 1986 | Russia (RSF 2026 rank: 172nd of 180) | Detention and violence | Mikhail Gorbachev | Reversed (29 September 1986) |
| 2 November 1985 | South Africa bans television and photographic coverage of unrest under a state of emergency | South Africa (RSF 2026 rank: 21st of 180) | Shutdowns and blocking | P. W. Botha | Reversed (1 June 1990) |
| 1985 | United States: Espionage Act conviction of Samuel Loring Morison for leaking satellite photographs to Jane's Defence Weekly, 1985 to 1988 | United States (RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180) | Secrets and espionage laws | Ronald Reagan | Upheld by a court (1 January 1988) |
| 25 October 1983 | United States military bars journalists from the invasion of Grenada | United States (RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180) | Access bans | Ronald Reagan | Reversed (1 April 1985) |
| 13 December 1981 | Poland's martial law government shuts nearly all newspapers and interns journalists overnight | Poland (RSF 2026 rank: 27th of 180) | Shutdowns and blocking | Wojciech Jaruzelski | Reversed (22 July 1983) |
| 1980 | Haiti's Duvalier government arrests and deports Radio Haiti-Inter staff, driving its director into exile | Haiti (RSF 2026 rank: 107th of 180) | Expulsion and visa denial | Jean-Claude Duvalier | Reversed (1 February 1986) |
| 31 July 1980 | South Korea's martial-law government purges journalists who resisted press controls | South Korea (RSF 2026 rank: 47th of 180) | Licensing and closure of outlets | Chun Doo-hwan | Reversed (1 June 1987) |
| 19 October 1977 | South Africa bans The World and Weekend World newspapers and detains editor Percy Qoboza | South Africa (RSF 2026 rank: 21st of 180) | Licensing and closure of outlets | Balthazar Johannes Vorster | Sustained (1 March 1978) |
| 24 March 1976 | Argentina's military junta threatens journalists with prison for reporting on its opponents | Argentina (RSF 2026 rank: 98th of 180) | Detention and violence | Jorge Rafael Videla | Reversed (10 December 1983) |
| 26 June 1975 | India imposes pre-press controls on every newspaper during the 1975 Emergency | India (RSF 2026 rank: 157th of 180) | Prior restraint | Indira Gandhi | Reversed (21 March 1977) |
| 11 September 1973 | Chile's military government shuts opposition radio stations and newspapers after the 1973 coup | Chile (RSF 2026 rank: 70th of 180) | Shutdowns and blocking | Augusto Pinochet | Sustained (1 March 1990) |
| 17 November 1972 | United Kingdom court bars The Sunday Times from publishing an article on thalidomide | United Kingdom (RSF 2026 rank: 18th of 180) | Prior restraint | Edward Heath | Reversed (26 April 1979) |
| 21 September 1972 | Philippines President Marcos closes every major news outlet under martial law | Philippines (RSF 2026 rank: 114th of 180) | Shutdowns and blocking | Ferdinand Marcos | Reversed (25 February 1986) |
| 9 September 1971 | United States: Nixon White House "enemies list" naming journalists, September 1971 | United States (RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180) | Surveillance and subpoenas | Richard Nixon | Unknown |
| 16 August 1971 | Nixon White House compiles an enemies list naming journalists for official pressure | United States (RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180) | Surveillance and subpoenas | Richard Nixon | Reversed (27 June 1973) |
| 15 June 1971 | United States government seeks an injunction to stop The New York Times publishing the Pentagon Papers | United States (RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180) | Prior restraint | Richard Nixon | Reversed (30 June 1971) |
| 1969 | United States Supreme Court rules reporters have no privilege to refuse grand jury subpoenas | United States (RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180) | Surveillance and subpoenas | Richard Nixon | Upheld by a court (29 June 1972) |
| 13 December 1968 | Brazil's military government decrees the Fifth Institutional Act and moves to control the press | Brazil (RSF 2026 rank: 52nd of 180) | Prior restraint | Artur da Costa e Silva | Unknown |
| 21 August 1968 | Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia is followed by the return of government press controls | Czechia (RSF 2026 rank: 11th of 180) | Prior restraint | Alexander Dubček | Reversed (1 November 1989) |
| 26 October 1962 | West Germany: police raid Der Spiegel's offices and arrest its editors over a defense article | Germany (RSF 2026 rank: 14th of 180) | Detention and violence | Konrad Adenauer | Unknown |
| 24 May 1960 | Egypt's Nasser government nationalizes every newspaper and magazine in the country | Egypt (RSF 2026 rank: 169th of 180) | Funding and ownership pressure | Gamal Abdel Nasser | Ongoing (1 January 1989) |
| 28 September 1959 | Cuba: Prime Minister Fidel Castro publicly criticizes Havana newspapers that questioned his government, September 1959 | Cuba (RSF rank: not recorded) | Official labels | Fidel Castro | Sustained (11 May 1960) |
| November 1955 | United States Senate panel subpoenas dozens of New York Times journalists over Communist ties | United States (RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180) | Surveillance and subpoenas | Dwight D. Eisenhower | Sustained (1 December 1956) |
| 1953 | United States: Senator Joseph McCarthy's subcommittee questions New York Post editor James Wechsler, 1953 | United States (RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180) | Surveillance and subpoenas | Dwight D. Eisenhower | Unknown |
| October 1951 | Argentina: President Juan Perón's government hands the expropriated newspaper La Prensa to the CGT labor federation, October 1951 | Argentina (RSF 2026 rank: 98th of 180) | Licensing and closure of outlets | Juan Perón | Sustained (1 October 1951) |
| 17 July 1950 | South Africa's Suppression of Communism Act lets the government ban publications and restrict individuals | South Africa (RSF 2026 rank: 21st of 180) | Prior restraint | Daniel François Malan | Reversed (31 July 1991) |
| 1948 | Israel retains a British-era law giving the military the power to review and restrict the press | Israel (RSF 2026 rank: 116th of 180) | Prior restraint | David Ben-Gurion | Ongoing (1 January 1989) |
| 16 April 1944 | Australia's wartime government seizes a Sydney newspaper edition under press controls rules | Australia (RSF 2026 rank: 33rd of 180) | Prior restraint | John Curtin | Reversed (18 April 1944) |
| August 1942 | United States: Justice Department investigates the Chicago Tribune under the Espionage Act over Battle of Midway coverage | United States (RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180) | Secrets and espionage laws | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Reversed (1 August 1942) |
| 19 December 1941 | United States creates an Office of Censorship and a wartime code for the press | United States (RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180) | Prior restraint | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Sustained (28 September 1945) |
| 8 May 1941 | Greece: collaborationist government creates a Directorate-General for Press and Radio to review films and publications before release | Greece (RSF rank: not recorded) | Prior restraint | Georgios Tsolakoglou | Sustained |
| 3 September 1939 | Canada: War Measures Act regulations authorize review of hundreds of newspapers and ban political organizations | Canada (RSF 2026 rank: 20th of 180) | Prior restraint | William Lyon Mackenzie King | Sustained (31 December 1945) |
| 1939 | Brazil's Vargas government creates a state messaging department with broad press powers | Brazil (RSF 2026 rank: 52nd of 180) | Licensing and closure of outlets | Getúlio Vargas | Reversed (1 January 1945) |
| April 1938 | Franco's Spain requires state permission to be a journalist under a wartime Press Law | Spain (RSF 2026 rank: 29th of 180) | Credential control | Francisco Franco | Reversed (1 April 1977) |
| July 1937 | Japan: government requires clearance to publish war news under the Newspaper Law, 1937 | Japan (RSF rank: not recorded) | Prior restraint | Fumimaro Konoe | Sustained |
| 4 October 1933 | Nazi Germany's Editors Law bars Jewish journalists, 1933 | Germany (RSF 2026 rank: 14th of 180) | Credential control | Adolf Hitler | Reversed (8 May 1945) |
| 28 February 1933 | Germany: Reichstag Fire Decree suspends freedom of the press, February 1933 | Germany (RSF 2026 rank: 14th of 180) | Licensing and closure of outlets | Adolf Hitler | Sustained (1 May 1945) |
| 1933 | Portugal's Salazar government formally establishes press controls under a new constitution | Portugal (RSF 2026 rank: 10th of 180) | Prior restraint | António de Oliveira Salazar | Reversed (25 April 1974) |
| May 1926 | United Kingdom: Government requisitions newsprint and restricts rival newspapers during the 1926 General Strike | United Kingdom (RSF 2026 rank: 18th of 180) | Funding and ownership pressure | Stanley Baldwin | Ongoing (10 May 1926) |
| 1926 | Dutch East Indies: Colonial authorities end publication of the communist newspaper Mawa under Penal Code Article 153 bis, 1926 | Indonesia (RSF rank: not recorded) | Licensing and closure of outlets | Andries Cornelis Dirk de Graeff | Sustained (1 January 1926) |
| 1922 | Glavlit created: Soviet censorship office, 1922 | Russia (RSF 2026 rank: 172nd of 180) | Prior restraint | Vladimir Lenin | Ongoing (1 January 1989) |
| 26 June 1918 | United States convicts newspaper editor Jacob Frohwerk under the Espionage Act, June 1918 | United States (RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180) | Secrets and espionage laws | Woodrow Wilson | Upheld by a court (10 March 1919) |
| July 1917 | United States postmaster bars the magazine The Masses from the mail under the Espionage Act | United States (RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180) | Secrets and espionage laws | Woodrow Wilson | Upheld by a court (1 November 1917) |
| 1917 | United States convicts Mother Earth editor Emma Goldman of draft conspiracy and bars her magazine from the mail | United States (RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180) | Detention and violence | Woodrow Wilson | Upheld by a court (14 January 1918) |
| 1917 | United States Postmaster General Burleson strips the Milwaukee Leader of its mailing rate | United States (RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180) | Shutdowns and blocking | Woodrow Wilson | Upheld by a court (7 March 1921) |