A case study in crisis management and media relations, China, 2008:

“Please
can the government increase control and coordination of the media, to
create a good environment for the recall of the company’s problem
products … This is to avoid whipping up the issue and creating a
negative influence in society,” a company linked with melamine-poisoned
milk wrote to a local Chinese government officials, according to a Reuters report about a story in China’s Communist Party newspaper the People’s Daily.

The government officials obliged. (They’ve since been reportedly punished.)

Guess
they agreed a “negative influence in society” would be worse than
thousands of sick and a few dead babies. Would a free press in China
have made a difference? Reuters noted that Reporters Without Borders,
which has been on China’s case for its media censorship during the
Olympics, charged Beijing of ordering the milk scandal hushed during
the games.