On April 29, 1992, approximately 17 junior military officers seized power in a bloodless coup d'etat and were quickly joined by officers of the paramilitary State Security Department (SSD) who collectively engaged in mass looting throughout Freetown., especially of goods awaiting customs clearance at the Queen Elizabeth II quay. General Momoh fled to Guinea and 24-year-old Captain Valentine E. Strasser was declared Chairman of the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC). Many citizens initially welcomed the change from the 23-year dictatorial APC regime, that was perceived as old and corrupt, which explains why thousands of citizens rushed into Freetown's streets to welcome a military coup that had overthrown an elected government. However, political and economic deja-vue quickly set in.

The NPRC quickly enlisted support from a pool of private groups and individuals with the skills necessary to remain in control of the government militarily. Ukrainian pilots were hired to pilot the two military helicopters based in Freetown. They also performed topographical surveys together with the South African mercenary group, Executive Outcomes. There was no shortage of willing and able partners ready to earn crisis pay, sometimes in diamonds.

The NPRC junta immediately suspended the 1991 Constitution, declared a state of emergency, and enacted a rule-by-decree policy. The army and all national security forces, including the SSD and senior police officers were granted unlimited powers of administrative detention without charge or trial, and challenges against such detentions in court were precluded. The NPRC misread citizen's initial embrace as acceptance of poor governance and corruption. When the press continued to publish critical reports with headlines like, "How Sincere are the NPRC?" "Villains or Redeemers?" and "When Will Property Confiscation Stop?" the regime retaliated against the scrutiny.

Some journalists publicly questioned the NPRC "boys" (junior officers) promises to facilitate a return to democracy. The media's fears were realized when, in a May 5, 1992, national television and radio broadcast, Chairman Strasser canceled the elections the APC had scheduled for later that year, and informed the nation that the NPRC would end the war and return the country to constitutional rule "within three years." The media reacted by doggedly challenging the NPRC on its policies, or lack thereof, warning fellow citizens about the probability of the regime perpetuating its rule as other military regimes had done in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Nigeria. Thus, the battle lines between the media and NPRC were formally drawn.

On July 10, 1992, the NPRC struck at the press with Decree 6, The Press Guidelines, of which Section 15 authorized the Post Office General Manager to confiscate any materials "from or to any territory" and submit them to a State censor for as long as "he deems necessary." Section 16 of the decree stated that publications or broadcasts that influence "public opinion" in a manner likely to be prejudicial to public safety, public tranquillity, maintenance of public order" can be restricted. And Section 17 stated, "Any person who publishes any report or statement which is likely to cause alarm or despondency or be prejudiced to public safety, public tranquillity or maintenance of public order "may face a fine of up to (US $1,000) or up to five years imprisonment."

The media reacted passively to Decree 6, in fear of prosecution and detention. However, a newspaper named Lauda Merci (pidgin English for "Lord Have Mercy") soon surfaced in the Gambia, and made its way to Freetown via 4-times weekly Ghana Airways flights from Banjul. NPRC officials received their copies of Lauda Merci via the postal service. A number of local journalists anonymously submitted articles to Lauda Merci for publication. The NPRC accused Dr. Abdulai Abdulai Conteh, former APC Vice-President and Attorney General who was in exile in the Gambia after the coup, of being the editor of Lauda Merci, a charge he denied. But later, fearing for his life because of the collegial relationship between Gambian military dictator Captain Yahya Jammeh and Chairman Strasser, Conteh subsequently fled to England.

On February 1, 1993, upon the order of the NPRC Information Secretary, the Press Re-Registration Guidelines were issued for all newspapers to comply with by February 8. The guidelines demanded full access to newspapers' printing plates/dummy sheets 24 hours in advance of press time. This action effectively banned 19 independent newspapers, while other succumbed to self-censorship in order to survive. The NPRC used this as a means to determine which media would support them under duress because the decision had already been made to retain power longer than they had originally states. The following requirements of the Press Guidelines sealed the fate of those 19 newspapers:

These NPRC Press Guidelines forcibly reduced the press from approximately 30 weekly newspapers to 10 publications, two of which were state-controlled. Information Secretary Hindolo Trye (who reported to Public Liaison Officer Captain Julius Maada Bio) supervised the re-registration scheme. Hindolo's prior experience as a journalist benefited a few of his former colleagues. When then Concord Times editor David Tam-Baryoh was arrested in August 1994, Hindolo intervened to help secure his release. However, Hindolo's sympathetic actions ended when NPRC junior officers began suspecting and accusing him of being a traitor for appealing for journalists’ release from detention.

In addition to the use of anti-press decrees and registration requirements, the NPRC routinely arrested journalists to control news coverage, particularly in response to reports on government corruption connected to the war effort. On January 11, 1993, NPRC Vice Chairman Solomon Musa summoned Chernoh Ojuku Sesay, editor of The Pool, to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) after the newspaper reprinted an article from London-based West Africa magazine reporting that Musa had traveled to Belgium to buy arms. At CID headquarters, Musa assaulted Sesay, rendering him unconscious. Fellow journalists feared similar treatment, and because of the necessity to publish and earn their daily bread, were even less inclined to take chances with "the boys." Sesay would subsequently write a letter of apology Vice Chairman Susa, against the advice of his deputy editor. And when Sesay’s letter of apology was published in the state-owned Daily Mail (edited by Martin Mondeh, the brother of NPRC third-in-command, Captain Komba Mondeh), Sesay’s colleague resigned in protest.

After the New Breed newspaper published, on October 11, 1993, an editorial titled "Redeemers or Villains?" about corruption and diamond smuggling by NPRC officials, most of its staff was arrested. The New Breed had demanded that the government respond to an article published in the Swedish newspaper Expression, reporting that Chairman Strasser flew to Antwerp to sell US $43 million worth of diamonds. In August 1995, after a 22-month trial, then New Breed managing editor Dr. Julius Spencer (now President Kabbah’s Minister of Information), acting editor Donald John, sales manager Alfred Conteh, and printer Alusine Basiru, were convicted on 10 counts of seditious libel. The journalists were sentenced to stiff fines of 500,00-800,000 leones each (US $185-300), or one-year prison terms in the event they could not pay the fines.

In December 1993, the NPRC reiterated its promise to return the country to a multi-party political system within three years. A National Advisory Council (headed by Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, who had recently returned after leaving his position with the United Nations Development Programme) was established to draft a new constitution and prepare for the transition to democracy, with multiparty elections scheduled for December 1995. However, the NPRC’s pronouncements about democracy were not accompanied by a commitment to a freedom of the press or expression. On the occasion of the NPRC's first anniversary in power, Chairman Strasser announced the repeal of repressive press laws, but they were simply replaced by new Press Guidelines issued on February 1, 1994, that enacted similar steep fees and strict registration requirements.

As the Liberian-backed RUF insurgency gained momentum and the national army grew increasingly mutinous, NPRC Secretary of State Colonel Karefa Kargbo announced, on November 24, 1994, that all information about military operations would be subject to censorship for a four-week period. According to the government order, the news blackout was intended to ensure the secrecy of state maneuvers against the RUF. Yet news about the war was the "only news worth reporting" in the eyes of the few journalists, and those who did make what was perceived as a futile attempt to clear discouraging news on the war with the high command at Cockrill prime targets of arrest. During this time, rumors of misappropriation of funds were rampant, with private businessmen donating heavily to the war effort, to curry favor with the regime and gain valuable contracts. The NPRC claimed it was spending 8 million leones (US $3,000) daily on the war.

Simultaneously, the identity of the perpetrators of attacks against civilians became increasingly difficult for human rights groups to establish. In addition to the RUF, atrocities were also carried out by subversive factions within the army who were opposed to the NPRC, and the government was forced to admit that grave problems of indiscipline existed. During this time, some senior army officers were accused of collaborating and conniving with the RUF to overthrow the NPRC. An example of this is the arrest on treason charges of Lieutenant Colonel Chernor Malado Deen, who was sentenced to death and later pardoned by President Kabbah. The media was subsequently restricted from identifying "sobels" (soldier rebels) who were looting and terrorizing citizens in the rural areas. By restricting reporting on human rights abuses committed by government soldiers to protect its image as a unified force against the RUF, the NPRC may have damaged its impact on the RUF by allowing sobels to perpetuate their crimes without national scrutiny.

In April 1995, the NPRC announced that the ban on political activity, enforced since1992, would be lifted in preparation for legislative and presidential elections scheduled for June 1995, and proposed an immediate cease-fire and negotiations with the RUF. The RUF rejected these overtures, and responded by calling for a withdrawal of foreign ECOMOG troops and Executive Outcomes mercenaries, and for the NPRC to cede power to an interim government. The RUF did not apply for registration as a political party, although 15 other political parties did register to contest the elections. Despite the lifting of the ban on political parties in June, and the preparation for elections, the NPRC continued to detain journalists for publishing "annoying" articles. The result was the continued scant coverage of the war being waged by all parties involved against innocent civilians.

Reports citing poor performance, defections by government troops, or the involvement of Liberia in the war, were treated as extremely sensitive and rigorously censored. In May 1995, when 500 SLA soldiers reportedly defected to the RUF from the Teko Barracks in Makeni, the media was banned from reporting the incident. Additional examples of this censorship include the following:

Judging from the actions of key NPRC proponents of media repression, such as Attorney General Claude V.M. Campbell, Captain Idriss Kamara, Minister of Information Hindolo Trye, Public Liaison Officer Captain Julius Maada Bio, Captain Solomon Anthony (SAJ) Musa, and Public Relations Officer Rtd. Captain Abdulrahman Kamara, the NPRC's policy toward the press was reactionary, and far from a coordinated strategy. Local journalists interpreted the NPRC's attacks on their profession as proof that, "if the elected APC governments under Stevens and Momoh did not allow for criticism, the military "boys" (junior officers), which did not have a mandate from the people to rule, certainly would not tolerate it either

During the months preceding the elections, which had been postponed from December 1994 to February 1996, some of the worst atrocities committed against civilians were at the hands of both the RUF. For example slogans denouncing the elections were carved into victims' backs and chests, and their hands were amputated as symbolic messages to civilians not to cast votes. However, there were also elements within the NPRC who did not want elections to take place, as evinced by remarks made by Brigadier Joy Turay at the National Consultative Conference, when he stated, "the Army cannot guarantee security if the people want elections."

In January 1996, NPRC Chairman Strasser was overthrown by his second-in-command, Brigadier Julius Maada Bio, but this sudden change did not derail the transition to civilian rule. A national consultative congress overwhelmingly decided that elections should proceed despite the country's prevailing state of emergency. In February 1996, the NPRC commenced discussions with representatives of the RUF, such as Corporal Foday Sankoh, Dr. Dean Jalloh, and Saia Musa, and the eagerly anticipated electoral process was officially underway. As one of its last official acts, the NPRC issued the Indemnity and Transition Decrees, 1996, which provided immunity from prosecution for acts committed since 1992 by NPRC officials, the armed forces, and those acting upon the orders of the NPRC.

During the election campaign, Kabbah’s Campaign Chief, Thorlu Bangura, promised press freedom in a speech at the National Consultative Conference, should his Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) were to win. Kabbah’s primary competition was from Dr. John Karefa-Smart and his United National People's Party (UNPP), which would later become the most significant opposition party in the Parliament.

The elections were monitored by the usual international groups, the British Commonwealth, the United Nations, President Jimmy Carter, and a delegation from ECOWAS. In the larger cities like Freetown, Bo, Makeni, Kenema, Kono, the elections were judged free and fair. However, in smaller towns such as Blama, Kabala, Sandah, which were under RUF control, there were reports of citizens who attempted to travel to the larger towns to vote, being amputated by rebels who targeted them because of the elections.