Ladders
Where each tactic has led, stage by stage
Each ladder takes one tactic and sets out, stage by stage, what governments have done with it: from restricting access, through pressure and punishment, to silencing outlets and eliminating journalists. Every rung is a dated incident with its country, head of government, outcome and sources. Rows from the United States, the focal case of this record, are marked and shown first within each stage.
The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.
The stages
- Restrict
- Limiting access or credentials for particular reporters or outlets: bans from briefings or buildings, pool changes, credential revocations, accreditation refusals.
- Pressure
- Using state power short of prosecution to change coverage: regulatory threats, licence reviews, funding cuts, lawsuits by officials, official "fake news" or "foreign agent" labels, advertising pressure, tax audits.
- Punish
- Legal or physical action against individual journalists or sources: subpoenas and record seizures, prosecutions, arrests, detention, expulsions, visa denials, assault where a government actor is involved.
- Silence
- Removing outlets or channels from the public sphere: closures, licence withdrawals, forced sales, blocking and shutdowns, prior restraint, nationalisation.
- Eliminate
- Long imprisonment, killing, disappearance or forced exile of journalists, with state involvement as the sources state it.
The thirteen tactics
| Tactic | What it is | Stages in the record | United States rows at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access bans | A government or official bars a reporter or a news organisation from places or events where news is gathered: briefings, government buildings, press pools, official trips or court hearings. | Restrict, Pressure, Punish, Silence | Restrict, Punish |
| Credential control | A government decides who counts as a journalist through passes, accreditation or licences issued to individual reporters. | Restrict, Pressure, Punish, Silence | Restrict |
| Licensing and closure of outlets | A government requires newspapers, broadcasters or news websites to register or to hold a licence, and uses that power to refuse, suspend or cancel it, or to close the outlet. | Pressure, Punish, Silence, Eliminate | Pressure |
| Prior restraint | An order or rule that stops something from being published before it appears, rather than penalising it afterwards. | Restrict, Pressure, Silence, Eliminate | Restrict, Pressure, Silence |
| Secrets and espionage laws | Laws that make it a crime to obtain, keep or disclose information a government has classified as secret, such as the Espionage Act, a 1917 United States law against disclosing defence information, or the Official Secrets Acts of the United… | Pressure, Punish, Silence, Eliminate | Pressure, Punish, Silence |
| Insult and defamation laws | Laws that make it a crime, not only a civil wrong, to damage a person's reputation, to insult a head of state or a monarch (known as lèse-majesté), or to publish information that a government declares false, including laws against "fake ne… | Pressure, Punish, Silence, Eliminate | None |
| Surveillance and subpoenas | A government collects journalists' communications or records, often to learn who their sources are. | Pressure, Punish | Pressure, Punish |
| Funding and ownership pressure | A government uses money, or its power over owners, instead of acting against reporters directly. | Pressure, Punish, Silence | Pressure, Silence |
| Expulsion and visa denial | A government expels correspondents who report from its territory for news organisations based in other countries, refuses them visas or accreditation, or declines to renew their permission to stay. | Restrict, Punish, Eliminate | None |
| Shutdowns and blocking | A government cuts internet or mobile telephone service, blocks news websites or social media platforms, or jams radio and television signals, so that audiences cannot receive news and reporters cannot send it out. | Punish, Silence | Silence |
| Detention and violence | Arrest, detention, prosecution, imprisonment, physical harm or killing of journalists, where police, soldiers, officials or others acting for a government carried out, ordered or authorised the act. | Restrict, Punish, Silence, Eliminate | Restrict, Punish |
| Lawsuits against the press | A government, a government agency or an official sues a journalist or a news organisation, usually for defamation or breach of contract, whether the official acts in office or in a personal capacity. | Pressure, Punish | Pressure |
| Official labels | A government officially brands a news outlet or a journalist as a source of disinformation or "fake news", or requires it to register as an agent of another country. | Pressure, Punish, Eliminate | Pressure |
The United States chapter · All tactics, defined · All incidents, with filters