http://www.rcfp.org/news/mag/25-4/cov-blamegre.html

Even though State Department officials notified Cuba, the Soviet Union and Western European Allies about the invasion several hours before it happened, they left the nation's press corps in the cold until President Reagan announced the invasion at 9 a.m. that same day. Even then, they restricted reporters to Barbados for another 48 hours.

Armed forces scuttled attempts by reporters to access the island by boat or small plane.

On Oct. 27, officials offered a small press pool a limited tour of the island. But then they grounded the media plane so reporters couldn't file their stories until after Reagan gave a speech on the invasion. On Oct. 30, reporters finally enjoyed unlimited access to Grenada but had to resort to footage and eyewitness accounts from military sources.

By then, the invasion already had been deemed a qualified success, despite later reports that the military had to use tourist maps during the attack and nearly bungled a rescue of medical students because they didn't know the island's university had two campuses.