Media blackout

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Media blackout refers to the censorship of news related to a certain topic, for any number of reasons. A media blackout may be voluntary, or may in some countries be enforced by the government or state. The latter case is controversial, as some regard it as a human rights violation and repression of free speech. Press blackout is a similar phrase, but refers specifically to printed media.

1 Examples
2 In football
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Examples

Some examples of media blackout would include the media bans of southern Japan during the droppings of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki^{[citation needed]}, the lack of independent media correspondence from Iraq during the Persian Gulf War^{[citation needed]}, and the media blackouts in totalitarian states like China that frequently take place when embarrassing events transpire^{[citation needed]}.

The most commonly known version of a media blackout is the voluntary or legally enforceable (depending on jurisdiction) reporting convention which holds that the name of a rape or sexual assault victim (the accuser) is not to be published without that person's consent^{[citation needed]}.

A media blackout was used during the 2005 New York City transit strike to allow for more effective contract negotiation between the two sides of the dispute^{[citation needed]}. Most typically, the more freedom of the press that any particular country has, and the more sensational the story, the more likely it is that at least one news organization will ignore the "blackout" and run the story^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] In football

In football, a press or media blackout is also referred to as a silenzio stampa (literally press silence) from the corresponding Italian phrase. It specifically refers to when a football club or national team and the players refuse to give interviews or in any other way cooperate with the press, often during important tournaments, or when the club feels that the media does not depict the club and their activities in an objective way. The phrase silenzio stampa was born during the 1982 FIFA World Cup, when the Italian team created a news blackout due to rumors and untrue stories circulating in the press.^[1]^[2]