I believe you focused too much on Anglo-Saxon examples above. A spectacular case was the SPIEGEL affair in (West) Germany, when the powers-that-be lost the marathon struggle against leakers and journalists; while in Italy, the leftist press could cover the fall of the First Republic and its elite in the Clean Hands operation (well, at least halfway fall, but surely a serious challenge).

BTW, I haven't said so in the original comment but say it now, the distinctio between tight and indirect media cotrol is important for me because the latter is much more insidious, with too many people not suspecting propaganda, whereas with thight control, many people will assume it.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}