Doesn't matter what type of dictatorship it is, Communist, Fascist, Totalitarian, the suppression of the the news media is the first thing to be put in place. Often, citizens are brought into the suppression conspiracy by convincing them of "fake news" using Orwellian terms (like "Alternate Facts" being used instead of "lies") and convincing these people to participate in a word of mouth smear campaign.
It does not do a free press any good to support a dictatorship of any kind, as it leads to the suppression of news, and, for the reporters out there that buck the totalitarian system, imprisonment and even death. (Read up on the Sedition Act of 1918 and our own government's means of controlling the press)
Show me a person in a leadership position that fears the press, even stifles it, and I'll show you a leader that is planning on leading the country into a totalitarian government.