{
  "title": "Incidents: credential control in Asia",
  "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents?continent=asia&tactic=credential_control",
  "filters": {
    "continent": "asia",
    "tactic": "credential_control"
  },
  "sort": "date",
  "count": 4,
  "page": 1,
  "pages": 1,
  "per_page": 50,
  "counts_caveat": "The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.",
  "facets": {
    "country": [
      {
        "value": "CN",
        "label": "China",
        "rsf": {
          "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
          "year": 2026,
          "rank": 178,
          "of": 180,
          "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 178th of 180",
          "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
        }
      },
      {
        "value": "KZ",
        "label": "Kazakhstan",
        "rsf": null
      },
      {
        "value": "TR",
        "label": "Türkiye",
        "rsf": {
          "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
          "year": 2026,
          "rank": 163,
          "of": 180,
          "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 163rd of 180",
          "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
        }
      }
    ],
    "continent": [
      {
        "value": "asia",
        "label": "Asia"
      }
    ],
    "tactic": [
      {
        "value": "credential_control",
        "label": "Credential control",
        "count": 4
      },
      {
        "value": "expulsion_and_visa_denial",
        "label": "Expulsion and visa denial",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "stage": [
      {
        "value": "pressure",
        "label": "Pressure",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "punish",
        "label": "Punish",
        "count": 3
      }
    ],
    "level": [
      {
        "value": "national",
        "label": "National",
        "count": 4
      }
    ],
    "outcome": [
      {
        "value": "sustained",
        "label": "Sustained",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "ongoing",
        "label": "Ongoing",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "reversed",
        "label": "Reversed",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "leader": [
      {
        "value": "kassym-jomart-tokayev",
        "label": "Kassym-Jomart Tokayev"
      },
      {
        "value": "recep-tayyip-erdogan",
        "label": "Recep Tayyip Erdoğan"
      },
      {
        "value": "xi-jinping",
        "label": "Xi Jinping"
      }
    ],
    "era": [
      {
        "value": "2020s",
        "label": "2020s",
        "count": 4
      }
    ],
    "year": [
      {
        "value": "2020",
        "label": "2020",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "2021",
        "label": "2021",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "2024",
        "label": "2024",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "has_case": [
      {
        "value": "0",
        "label": "without a court case",
        "count": 4
      }
    ]
  },
  "results": [
    {
      "slug": "2024-kazakhstan-restrictive-media-accreditation-rules",
      "title": "Kazakhstan: new accreditation rules let officials withdraw a journalist's pass for off-topic questions",
      "occurred_on": "2024-08-20",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "KZ",
      "country_name": "Kazakhstan",
      "continent": "asia",
      "jurisdiction": "KZ",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "credential_control",
      "tactics": [
        "credential_control"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "kassym-jomart-tokayev",
      "leader_name": "Kassym-Jomart Tokayev",
      "issue_of_the_day": "The rules followed a period of monthslong accreditation denials against journalists with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Kazakh service, Radio Azattyq, and escalating administrative charges against them for allegedly spreading false information.",
      "outcome": "ongoing",
      "outcome_on": "2024-09-03",
      "outcome_note": "The domestic accreditation rule had taken effect and the foreign media rule remained proposed, with officials not responding to requests for comment.",
      "stage": "punish",
      "ladder_note": "A government rule lets officials withdraw a journalist's accreditation for the content of the questions asked, not only for building or event access.",
      "rsf": null,
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "in_effect",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "Kazakhstan's government adopted rules allowing journalists' accreditation to be withdrawn for six months over conduct at a news event, including asking off-topic questions, while proposing separate rules letting the foreign ministry deny foreign media accreditation over any violation of Kazakh law.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2024-kazakhstan-restrictive-media-accreditation-rules"
    },
    {
      "slug": "2021-turkiye-press-card-controls-restrictive",
      "title": "Turkiye: the presidency's press card system is found restrictive by the country's top administrative court",
      "occurred_on": "2021-04-01",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "TR",
      "country_name": "Türkiye",
      "continent": "asia",
      "jurisdiction": "TR",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "credential_control",
      "tactics": [
        "credential_control"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "recep-tayyip-erdogan",
      "leader_name": "Recep Tayyip Erdoğan",
      "issue_of_the_day": "The 2018 rules had let the presidency cancel press cards for vaguely worded reasons, including \"diminishing the dignity of the media profession,\" and had been used against journalists dismissed or reassigned after the 2016 coup attempt.",
      "outcome": "reversed",
      "outcome_on": "2021-04-01",
      "outcome_note": "Turkiye's Council of State suspended the challenged 2018 press card regulation, though the source reviewed reports hundreds of journalists still waiting for cards afterward.",
      "stage": "pressure",
      "ladder_note": "A national regulator controlled the credential every journalist needs to work and enter official buildings, denying or delaying cards for hundreds of reporters for years.",
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 163,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 163rd of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "reversed",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "Turkiye's Council of State suspended 2018 rules under which the presidency's Communications Directorate could deny or cancel the yellow and turquoise press cards that let reporters work and enter official buildings, after finding the grounds for denial too broad.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2021-turkiye-press-card-controls-restrictive"
    },
    {
      "slug": "2020-china-press-card-visa-restrictions-us-outlets",
      "title": "China: press credentials and visas withheld from correspondents at three American newspapers",
      "occurred_on": "2020-03-18",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "CN",
      "country_name": "China",
      "continent": "asia",
      "jurisdiction": "CN",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "credential_control",
      "tactics": [
        "credential_control"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "xi-jinping",
      "leader_name": "Xi Jinping",
      "issue_of_the_day": "The findings covered a year in which China expelled dozens of foreign journalists amid tit-for-tat measures with the United States and additional restrictions tied to the coronavirus outbreak.",
      "outcome": "sustained",
      "outcome_on": "2021-03-03",
      "outcome_note": "The credential and visa denials were in force for the year covered by the survey, with no reversal reported in the source reviewed.",
      "stage": "punish",
      "ladder_note": "Credentials and visas needed to work at all were denied to correspondents at three named outlets on a national scale, on top of earlier individual expulsion orders.",
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 178,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 178th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "in_effect",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "A survey by the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China found the government refused new press credentials to journalists tied to American outlets and cancelled or refused visas for correspondents at the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post through 2020.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2020-china-press-card-visa-restrictions-us-outlets"
    },
    {
      "slug": "2020-china-expels-us-newspaper-journalists",
      "title": "China expels American journalists from three major U.S. newspapers",
      "occurred_on": "2020-03-17",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "CN",
      "country_name": "China",
      "continent": "asia",
      "jurisdiction": "CN",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "expulsion_and_visa_denial",
      "tactics": [
        "credential_control",
        "expulsion_and_visa_denial"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "xi-jinping",
      "leader_name": "Xi Jinping",
      "issue_of_the_day": "The expulsions followed a rapid exchange of measures: a Wall Street Journal opinion piece China objected to, the U.S. capping Chinese state-media staff, and China's decision to expel American reporters from three outlets in response, all unfolding as the coronavirus pandemic was spreading globally.",
      "outcome": "sustained",
      "outcome_on": null,
      "outcome_note": "The expelled journalists' press credentials were not restored; reciprocal media restrictions between the two countries continued for years afterward.",
      "stage": "punish",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 178,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 178th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "in_effect",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "China ordered American correspondents for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post to leave the country, in a reciprocal response to the Trump administration capping the number of Chinese state-media employees allowed in the United States, which itself followed China's earlier expulsion of three Journal reporters over an opinion headline.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2020-china-expels-us-newspaper-journalists"
    }
  ],
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  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
  }
}