Media blackout

A media blackout is the censorship of news related to a certain topic, particularly in mass media, for any reason. A media blackout may be self-imposed or voluntary or enforced by the government or state.

In countries with strong freedom of speech laws and traditions, media blackouts enforced by a government or military are generally rare and highly controversial, especially in peacetime. In those countries, there is sometimes support for media blackouts during armed conflict, but, that is generally limited and voluntary, rather than mandated by force. For example, the United Kingdom's D-Notice system—established during World War II and operating through the 1990s—allowed the executive authorities to media blackouts on certain topics on voluntary basis. In many cases, some media outlets complied while others did not, as it was voluntary.

In countries with centralized, authoritarian governments, media blackouts are commonplace, often enshrined by law, directive, or decree or by the implied threat of harm should media criticize the government. For example, media in the Soviet Union mostly cooperated voluntarily with government media blackouts on a wide variety of issues. However, media less sympathetic to the government were discouraged from violating the blackouts out of fear of arrest, prosecution, or execution.