An abortive coup in 1965, blamed on the Communist Party of Indonesia and its allies, left Antara under military command. Nearly one-third of its editorial staff were dismissed, and many journalists sympathetic to the Communist Party were killed in the subsequent anti-communist purge. After Suharto assumed the presidency in the following year, the agency produced many of its news reports based on official government sources. Independent news outlets published stories on politically sensitive topics only if they had been reported by Antara in order to avoid sanctions should the stories be found offensive by government leaders. Although the government released a decree affirming freedom of the press, news publishers had to obtain a Permit To Publish () from the Ministry of Information and a Permit To Print () from the military security authority Kopkamtib. This ensured the suppression of publications with militant views.