How governments have limited journalists, 1900 to today.
Compare: who did what, when in North America
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.
Court orders RCMP to stop restricting press access at Fairy Creek logging blockades. John Horgan. Reversed. Issue of the day: The RCMP was enforcing a court injunction won by logging company Teal-Jones against protesters blocking old-growth logging roads near Fairy Creek on Vancouver Island, and had required journalists to check in and stay escorted rather than observe enforcement directly.
United States military bars journalists from the invasion of Grenada. Ronald Reagan. Reversed. Issue of the day: Defense officials had for years blamed unrestricted press coverage for damaging public and political support during the Vietnam War, and applied that lesson by excluding reporters from the opening phase of the Grenada operation.
Minnesota State Patrol arrests CNN crew live on air in Minneapolis. Tim Walz. Reversed. Issue of the day: Protests in Minneapolis followed the police killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. Jimenez's crew was reporting live on the unrest and the state's response near the site of the killing when troopers moved to clear the area at dawn on May 29.
Federal officers restrict press access to Portland protests; judge orders them to stop. Donald Trump. Reversed. Issue of the day: The federal government sent Department of Homeland Security officers to Portland in July 2020 to protect a federal courthouse during nightly protests that followed George Floyd's killing; officers' use of force against bystanders, including identified journalists, prompted the lawsuit.
Border czar Tom Homan says ICE media ride-alongs may end over leaks. Donald Trump. Unknown. Issue of the day: An ICE operation in Aurora, Colorado aimed at alleged gang members captured only one of roughly one hundred people sought; acting ICE director Caleb Vitello attributed the shortfall to leaks about the operation before it occurred.
White House ends wire services' guaranteed seat in the press pool. Donald Trump. Sustained. Issue of the day: The change followed the White House's dispute with the Associated Press over its refusal to adopt the administration's "Gulf of America" naming, part of a broader restructuring of how the White House selected the press pool that began in February 2025.
White House closes 'Upper Press' section of West Wing to reporters. Donald Trump. Sustained. Issue of the day: The White House said it acted after concluding that reporters had secretly recorded video and audio inside West Wing press offices and entered restricted areas, though it did not identify the reporters or recordings involved.
Political appointees alter CDC coronavirus guidance before public release. Donald Trump. Unknown. Issue of the day: The reporting concerned the CDC's coronavirus testing guidance and its weekly Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report during the summer and fall of 2020, as the Trump administration sought to align public messaging with the president's own statements about the pandemic.
Justice Department bars seizing reporters' phone and email records. Joe Biden. Reversed. Issue of the day: In mid-2021, The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN separately disclosed that the Justice Department had secretly seized their reporters' phone and email records years earlier while investigating leaks, including of information about contacts between Trump campaign associates and Russia.
Police raid Marion County Record newsroom and publisher's home in Kansas. Laura Kelly. Reversed. Issue of the day: The Record had been investigating the driving record of local restaurant owner Kari Newell, who had accused the paper of accessing her personal information without authorization, the claim the search warrant cited as its basis.
FCC chair reopens 'news distortion' complaints against CBS and NBC. Donald Trump. Ongoing. Issue of the day: The CBS complaint concerned 60 Minutes' October 2024 interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris; the NBC complaint, filed in April 2025, concerned coverage of the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
60 Minutes executive producer resigns, citing lost editorial independence. Donald Trump. Sustained. Issue of the day: Paramount was defending CBS against Trump's lawsuit over 60 Minutes' editing of a Kamala Harris interview while seeking Federal Communications Commission approval to sell the company to Skydance, a deal Trump's approval-holding regulator could delay or block.
Congress cuts $1.1 billion in federal funding for public broadcasting. Donald Trump. Sustained. Issue of the day: The rescission followed years of conservative criticism that NPR and PBS produced one-sided coverage, and came weeks after President Trump's May 2025 executive order directing agencies to stop funding the two networks.
Appeals court orders FCC to respond to challenge over 'news distortion' policy. Donald Trump. Ongoing. Issue of the day: Under Chair Brendan Carr, the FCC had used its news distortion policy to open or reopen inquiries into CBS, NBC and ABC's election-season coverage, prompting the petitioners to argue the unresolved policy itself had become a tool of pressure on broadcasters.
Nicaragua strips 94 political opponents, including journalists, of citizenship. Daniel Ortega. Sustained. Issue of the day: The rulings followed years of pressure on Nicaragua's independent press, including the earlier forced closure of the country's oldest newspaper, La Prensa, and came days after Ortega's government released 222 jailed dissidents to the United States and stripped their citizenship as well.
Court orders RCMP to stop restricting press access at Fairy Creek logging blockades. John Horgan. Reversed. Issue of the day: The RCMP was enforcing a court injunction won by logging company Teal-Jones against protesters blocking old-growth logging roads near Fairy Creek on Vancouver Island, and had required journalists to check in and stay escorted rather than observe enforcement directly.
Minneapolis police projectile permanently blinds photojournalist Linda Tirado. Jacob Frey. Sustained. Issue of the day: Tirado was documenting the police response to protests over George Floyd's killing in Minneapolis when she was struck; a federal judge later found her case was one of numerous similar reports of journalists being hit by less-lethal munitions during the same unrest.
Minnesota State Patrol arrests CNN crew live on air in Minneapolis. Tim Walz. Reversed. Issue of the day: Protests in Minneapolis followed the police killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. Jimenez's crew was reporting live on the unrest and the state's response near the site of the killing when troopers moved to clear the area at dawn on May 29.
Federal officers restrict press access to Portland protests; judge orders them to stop. Donald Trump. Reversed. Issue of the day: The federal government sent Department of Homeland Security officers to Portland in July 2020 to protect a federal courthouse during nightly protests that followed George Floyd's killing; officers' use of force against bystanders, including identified journalists, prompted the lawsuit.
Police raid Marion County Record newsroom and publisher's home in Kansas. Laura Kelly. Reversed. Issue of the day: The Record had been investigating the driving record of local restaurant owner Kari Newell, who had accused the paper of accessing her personal information without authorization, the claim the search warrant cited as its basis.
60 Minutes executive producer resigns, citing lost editorial independence. Donald Trump. Sustained. Issue of the day: Paramount was defending CBS against Trump's lawsuit over 60 Minutes' editing of a Kamala Harris interview while seeking Federal Communications Commission approval to sell the company to Skydance, a deal Trump's approval-holding regulator could delay or block.
Nicaragua strips 94 political opponents, including journalists, of citizenship. Daniel Ortega. Sustained. Issue of the day: The rulings followed years of pressure on Nicaragua's independent press, including the earlier forced closure of the country's oldest newspaper, La Prensa, and came days after Ortega's government released 222 jailed dissidents to the United States and stripped their citizenship as well.
FCC chair reopens 'news distortion' complaints against CBS and NBC. Donald Trump. Ongoing. Issue of the day: The CBS complaint concerned 60 Minutes' October 2024 interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris; the NBC complaint, filed in April 2025, concerned coverage of the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
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