Incidents: prior restraint, national level

Each incident is a dated action by a government, an official, a regulator, a court or a legislature that limited journalists' ability to gather or publish news.

20 incidents match this view.

Date	Incident	Country	Tactic	Head of government	Outcome
September 19, 2025	United States: Department of Defense press credential rules requiring approval before release of information, September 2025	United States	Credential control	Donald Trump	Ongoing (April 9, 2026)
March 2024	Bombay High Court strikes down India's government 'fact check unit' rule	India	Official labels	Narendra Modi	Reversed (September 20, 2024)
February 14, 2023	Indian tax authorities search BBC offices weeks after Modi documentary ban	India	Surveillance and subpoenas	Narendra Modi	Unknown
September 12, 2020	Political appointees alter CDC coronavirus guidance before public release	United States	Prior restraint	Donald Trump	Unknown
February 10, 2003	Pentagon sets ground rules for journalists embedded with United States forces in Iraq	United States	Access bans	George W. Bush	Sustained (April 14, 2003)
October 1988	United Kingdom bars broadcasters from airing Sinn Féin members' own voices	United Kingdom	Licensing and closure of outlets	Margaret Thatcher	Reversed (September 16, 1994)
September 18, 1988	Burma's new military government tightens pre-publication press controls after seizing power	Myanmar	Prior restraint	Saw Maung	Ongoing (January 1, 1989)
March 24, 1976	Argentina's military junta threatens journalists with prison for reporting on its opponents	Argentina	Detention and violence	Jorge Rafael Videla	Reversed (December 10, 1983)
June 26, 1975	India imposes pre-press controls on every newspaper during the 1975 Emergency	India	Prior restraint	Indira Gandhi	Reversed (March 21, 1977)
September 21, 1972	Philippines President Marcos closes every major news outlet under martial law	Philippines	Shutdowns and blocking	Ferdinand Marcos	Reversed (February 25, 1986)
June 15, 1971	United States government seeks an injunction to stop The New York Times publishing the Pentagon Papers	United States	Prior restraint	Richard Nixon	Reversed (June 30, 1971)
August 21, 1968	Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia is followed by the return of government press press controls	Czechia	Prior restraint	Alexander Dubček	Reversed (November 1, 1989)
March 17, 1950	South Africa's Suppression of Communism Act lets the government ban publications and restrict individuals	South Africa	Prior restraint	Daniel François Malan	Reversed (February 2, 1990)
1948	Israel retains a British-era law giving the military the power to review and restrict the press	Israel	Prior restraint	David Ben-Gurion	Ongoing (January 1, 1989)
April 16, 1944	Australia's wartime government seizes a Sydney newspaper edition under press controls rules	Australia	Prior restraint	John Curtin	Reversed (April 18, 1944)
December 19, 1941	United States creates an Office of Censorship and a wartime code for the press	United States	Prior restraint	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Sustained (September 28, 1945)
1939	Brazil's Vargas government creates a state messaging department with broad press powers	Brazil	Licensing and closure of outlets	Getúlio Vargas	Reversed (January 1, 1945)
April 1938	Franco's Spain requires state permission to be a journalist under a wartime Press Law	Spain	Credential control	Francisco Franco	Reversed (April 1, 1977)
1933	Portugal's Salazar government formally establishes press press controls under a new constitution	Portugal	Prior restraint	António de Oliveira Salazar	Reversed (April 25, 1974)
1922	Soviet Russia creates Glavlit, a central office to review all printed material before publication	Russia	Prior restraint	Vladimir Lenin	Ongoing (January 1, 1989)

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