Compare: who did what, when in Europe

Each row is a tactic and each column a country. A cell lists the dated incidents in which that country's government used that tactic, with the head of government at the time and the outcome. Every incident links to its sources.

20 incidents, 9 tactics, 11 countries.

Tactics by country
Tactic	Belarus	Czechia	Germany	Hungary	Poland	Portugal	Russia	Serbia	Slovakia	Spain	United Kingdom
Credential control			October 4, 1933 Nazi Germany's Editors Law bars Jewish journalists from the press and puts editors under state direction. Adolf Hitler. Reversed. Issue of the day: Hitler's government, in power only since January 1933, was consolidating control over German public life and moved within months to bring newspapers and their editors directly under state and party direction.							April 1938 Franco's Spain requires state permission to be a journalist under a wartime Press Law. Francisco Franco. Reversed. Issue of the day: Franco's Nationalist forces were still fighting Spain's civil war in April 1938 and used the new Press Law to consolidate direct control over which newspapers could exist and who could work as a journalist within them.
Licensing and closure of outlets			October 4, 1933 Nazi Germany's Editors Law bars Jewish journalists from the press and puts editors under state direction. Adolf Hitler. Reversed. Issue of the day: Hitler's government, in power only since January 1933, was consolidating control over German public life and moved within months to bring newspapers and their editors directly under state and party direction.	December 21, 2010 Hungary's parliament gives a government-appointed media council power to fine outlets for unbalanced coverage. Viktor Orban. Sustained. Issue of the day: The incoming Fidesz government's broader effort, after its April 2010 election win, to restructure Hungary's state institutions, including media regulation.			1922 Soviet Russia creates Glavlit, a central office to review all printed material before publication. Vladimir Lenin. Ongoing. Issue of the day: The new Soviet government, having just consolidated power after years of revolution and civil war, sought a single, centrally controlled system to replace the uncoordinated military and civilian press controls bodies it had inherited. April 14, 2001 State-controlled Gazprom takes formal control of Russia's independent NTV television network. Vladimir Putin. Sustained. Issue of the day: NTV's critical coverage of Russia's second war in Chechnya and of the government of President Vladimir Putin, who had taken office in May 2000.		June 20, 2024 Slovakia's parliament dissolves public broadcaster RTVS, replaces it with STVR. Robert Fico. Sustained. Issue of the day: Fico's government accused RTVS of one-sided, activist coverage against it, a complaint it made after RTVS reporting the government considered unfavorable during Fico's return to power in late 2023.		October 1988 United Kingdom bars broadcasters from airing Sinn Féin members' own voices. Margaret Thatcher. Reversed. Issue of the day: Violence linked to the conflict in Northern Ireland, often called the Troubles, continued through the 1980s, and the British government wanted to deny paramilitary-linked political figures what it considered a broadcasting platform.
Prior restraint		August 21, 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia is followed by the return of government press press controls. Alexander Dubček. Reversed. Issue of the day: Czechoslovakia's Prague Spring reforms, including eased press press controls, had alarmed the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies, who invaded to reverse the liberalization before it could spread further.				1933 Portugal's Salazar government formally establishes press press controls under a new constitution. António de Oliveira Salazar. Reversed. Issue of the day: Salazar's government was consolidating the Estado Novo behind a new 1933 constitution, and used the moment to formalize a system of press press controls it had for years denied operating.	1922 Soviet Russia creates Glavlit, a central office to review all printed material before publication. Vladimir Lenin. Ongoing. Issue of the day: The new Soviet government, having just consolidated power after years of revolution and civil war, sought a single, centrally controlled system to replace the uncoordinated military and civilian press controls bodies it had inherited.			April 1938 Franco's Spain requires state permission to be a journalist under a wartime Press Law. Francisco Franco. Reversed. Issue of the day: Franco's Nationalist forces were still fighting Spain's civil war in April 1938 and used the new Press Law to consolidate direct control over which newspapers could exist and who could work as a journalist within them.	October 1988 United Kingdom bars broadcasters from airing Sinn Féin members' own voices. Margaret Thatcher. Reversed. Issue of the day: Violence linked to the conflict in Northern Ireland, often called the Troubles, continued through the 1980s, and the British government wanted to deny paramilitary-linked political figures what it considered a broadcasting platform.
Insult and defamation laws				March 30, 2020 Hungary criminalizes false coronavirus information and grants Orban decree powers. Viktor Orban. Unknown. Issue of the day: The law was passed as Hungary, like much of Europe, entered its first coronavirus lockdown in March 2020; the government said it needed emergency powers to respond quickly to the pandemic.			March 4, 2022 Russia criminalizes 'fake' reporting on the military, up to 15 years in prison. Vladimir Putin. Sustained. Issue of the day: The law followed Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and was aimed at reporting on the war that differed from the Russian defense ministry's official statements about casualties and military conduct.	October 20, 1998 Serbia's Public Information Act lets courts fine independent newspapers into financial danger. Slobodan Milosevic. Reversed. Issue of the day: Independent Serbian media's coverage of NATO's escalating confrontation with Yugoslavia over Kosovo through 1998 and 1999.		April 1938 Franco's Spain requires state permission to be a journalist under a wartime Press Law. Francisco Franco. Reversed. Issue of the day: Franco's Nationalist forces were still fighting Spain's civil war in April 1938 and used the new Press Law to consolidate direct control over which newspapers could exist and who could work as a journalist within them.
Surveillance and subpoenas											August 18, 2013 United Kingdom detains journalist's partner under terrorism law and oversees destruction of Guardian hard drives holding Snowden files. David Cameron. Upheld by a court. Issue of the day: The Guardian's 2013 reporting, based on files leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, on mass surveillance by the United States and United Kingdom.
Funding and ownership pressure				December 21, 2010 Hungary's parliament gives a government-appointed media council power to fine outlets for unbalanced coverage. Viktor Orban. Sustained. Issue of the day: The incoming Fidesz government's broader effort, after its April 2010 election win, to restructure Hungary's state institutions, including media regulation. December 20, 2023 Hungary: National Sovereignty Protection Act and Sovereignty Protection Office, December 2023. Viktor Orban. Reversed	December 31, 2015 Poland's new government gains power to replace public broadcaster leadership, and journalists are dismissed. Beata Szydlo. Sustained. Issue of the day: Law and Justice's decisive October 2015 election win and its stated aim of overhauling public institutions it viewed as insufficiently accountable to voters.		April 14, 2001 State-controlled Gazprom takes formal control of Russia's independent NTV television network. Vladimir Putin. Sustained. Issue of the day: NTV's critical coverage of Russia's second war in Chechnya and of the government of President Vladimir Putin, who had taken office in May 2000. August 4, 2026 Russia: law on asset freezes and service denials for exiled "foreign agents", August 2026. Vladimir Putin. Sustained	October 20, 1998 Serbia's Public Information Act lets courts fine independent newspapers into financial danger. Slobodan Milosevic. Reversed. Issue of the day: Independent Serbian media's coverage of NATO's escalating confrontation with Yugoslavia over Kosovo through 1998 and 1999.	June 20, 2024 Slovakia's parliament dissolves public broadcaster RTVS, replaces it with STVR. Robert Fico. Sustained. Issue of the day: Fico's government accused RTVS of one-sided, activist coverage against it, a complaint it made after RTVS reporting the government considered unfavorable during Fico's return to power in late 2023.
Shutdowns and blocking	May 19, 2021 Belarus blocks Tut.by and arrests its editors as 'extremist'. Alexander Lukashenko. Sustained. Issue of the day: Tut.by had continued reporting on the government's response to protests following the disputed August 2020 presidential election that kept Alexander Lukashenko in power; authorities revoked the outlet's official media registration in January 2021.	August 21, 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia is followed by the return of government press press controls. Alexander Dubček. Reversed. Issue of the day: Czechoslovakia's Prague Spring reforms, including eased press press controls, had alarmed the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies, who invaded to reverse the liberalization before it could spread further.			December 13, 1981 Poland's martial law government shuts nearly all newspapers and interns journalists overnight. Wojciech Jaruzelski. Reversed. Issue of the day: Poland's Solidarity trade union movement had grown into a mass challenge to Communist Party rule through 1980 and 1981, and Jaruzelski's government imposed martial law to suppress the movement and the independent press associated with it.		March 4, 2022 Russia criminalizes 'fake' reporting on the military, up to 15 years in prison. Vladimir Putin. Sustained. Issue of the day: The law followed Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and was aimed at reporting on the war that differed from the Russian defense ministry's official statements about casualties and military conduct.
Detention and violence	May 19, 2021 Belarus blocks Tut.by and arrests its editors as 'extremist'. Alexander Lukashenko. Sustained. Issue of the day: Tut.by had continued reporting on the government's response to protests following the disputed August 2020 presidential election that kept Alexander Lukashenko in power; authorities revoked the outlet's official media registration in January 2021.				December 13, 1981 Poland's martial law government shuts nearly all newspapers and interns journalists overnight. Wojciech Jaruzelski. Reversed. Issue of the day: Poland's Solidarity trade union movement had grown into a mass challenge to Communist Party rule through 1980 and 1981, and Jaruzelski's government imposed martial law to suppress the movement and the independent press associated with it.		October 7, 2006 Investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya is shot dead in Moscow; a former police officer is later convicted of organizing the killing. Vladimir Putin. Upheld by a court. Issue of the day: Politkovskaya's investigative reporting on human-rights abuses in Chechnya and her criticism of the Russian government's conduct there.	September 5, 2025 Serbian police strike, detain and disarm journalists covering anti-government protests. Aleksandar Vucic. Ongoing. Issue of the day: The protests, which grew through the summer of 2025, followed months of demonstrations against President Aleksandar Vucic's government that began after a deadly railway-station canopy collapse in Novi Sad in late 2024.			August 18, 2013 United Kingdom detains journalist's partner under terrorism law and oversees destruction of Guardian hard drives holding Snowden files. David Cameron. Upheld by a court. Issue of the day: The Guardian's 2013 reporting, based on files leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, on mass surveillance by the United States and United Kingdom.
Official labels				December 20, 2023 Hungary: National Sovereignty Protection Act and Sovereignty Protection Office, December 2023. Viktor Orban. Reversed			August 4, 2026 Russia: law on asset freezes and service denials for exiled "foreign agents", August 2026. Vladimir Putin. Sustained

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