{
  "title": "Incidents: licensing and closure of outlets in Europe, stage: silence",
  "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents?continent=europe&tactic=outlet_licensing&stage=silence",
  "filters": {
    "continent": "europe",
    "tactic": "outlet_licensing",
    "stage": "silence"
  },
  "sort": "date",
  "count": 6,
  "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": "DE",
        "label": "Germany",
        "rsf": {
          "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
          "year": 2026,
          "rank": 14,
          "of": 180,
          "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 14th of 180",
          "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
        }
      },
      {
        "value": "HU",
        "label": "Hungary",
        "rsf": {
          "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
          "year": 2026,
          "rank": 74,
          "of": 180,
          "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 74th of 180",
          "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
        }
      },
      {
        "value": "RU",
        "label": "Russia",
        "rsf": {
          "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
          "year": 2026,
          "rank": 172,
          "of": 180,
          "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 172nd of 180",
          "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
        }
      },
      {
        "value": "GB",
        "label": "United Kingdom",
        "rsf": {
          "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
          "year": 2026,
          "rank": 18,
          "of": 180,
          "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 18th of 180",
          "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
        }
      }
    ],
    "continent": [
      {
        "value": "europe",
        "label": "Europe"
      }
    ],
    "tactic": [
      {
        "value": "outlet_licensing",
        "label": "Licensing and closure of outlets",
        "count": 6
      },
      {
        "value": "prior_restraint",
        "label": "Prior restraint",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "funding_and_ownership_pressure",
        "label": "Funding and ownership pressure",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "credential_control",
        "label": "Credential control",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "stage": [
      {
        "value": "silence",
        "label": "Silence",
        "count": 6
      }
    ],
    "level": [
      {
        "value": "national",
        "label": "National",
        "count": 6
      }
    ],
    "outcome": [
      {
        "value": "sustained",
        "label": "Sustained",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "reversed",
        "label": "Reversed",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "upheld",
        "label": "Upheld by a court",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "ongoing",
        "label": "Ongoing",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "leader": [
      {
        "value": "adolf-hitler",
        "label": "Adolf Hitler"
      },
      {
        "value": "margaret-thatcher",
        "label": "Margaret Thatcher"
      },
      {
        "value": "viktor-orban",
        "label": "Viktor Orban"
      },
      {
        "value": "vladimir-lenin",
        "label": "Vladimir Lenin"
      },
      {
        "value": "vladimir-putin",
        "label": "Vladimir Putin"
      }
    ],
    "era": [
      {
        "value": "2020s",
        "label": "2020s",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "2000s",
        "label": "2000s",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "1980s",
        "label": "1980s",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "1930s",
        "label": "1930s",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "1920s",
        "label": "1920s",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "year": [
      {
        "value": "1922",
        "label": "1922",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "1933",
        "label": "1933",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "1988",
        "label": "1988",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "2001",
        "label": "2001",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "2021",
        "label": "2021",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "2022",
        "label": "2022",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "has_case": [
      {
        "value": "0",
        "label": "without a court case",
        "count": 6
      }
    ]
  },
  "results": [
    {
      "slug": "2022-russia-suspends-novaya-gazeta-license",
      "title": "Russia: a Moscow court suspends Novaya Gazeta's print license",
      "occurred_on": "2022-09-05",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "RU",
      "country_name": "Russia",
      "continent": "europe",
      "jurisdiction": "RU",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "outlet_licensing",
      "tactics": [
        "outlet_licensing"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "vladimir-putin",
      "leader_name": "Vladimir Putin",
      "issue_of_the_day": "The suspension came about six months into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, during which several independent Russian outlets closed or moved abroad rather than operate under new wartime speech laws.",
      "outcome": "sustained",
      "outcome_on": "2022-09-05",
      "outcome_note": "The Basmanny District Court's suspension of the print license stood as of the ruling, with no reversal reported in the source reviewed.",
      "stage": "silence",
      "ladder_note": "A national court ended a Nobel-recognized newspaper's print license outright over a sixteen-year-old paperwork dispute, not a temporary suspension or fine.",
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 172,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 172nd of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "in_effect",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "A Moscow court suspended the print license of Novaya Gazeta, whose editor Dmitry Muratov shared the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, after the media regulator Roskomnadzor said the paper had not provided documents about a 2006 change of ownership.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2022-russia-suspends-novaya-gazeta-license"
    },
    {
      "slug": "2021-hungary-klubradio-loses-broadcast-license",
      "title": "Hungary: Klubradio loses its terrestrial broadcast license over its tender application",
      "occurred_on": "2021-02-14",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "HU",
      "country_name": "Hungary",
      "continent": "europe",
      "jurisdiction": "HU",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "outlet_licensing",
      "tactics": [
        "outlet_licensing"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "viktor-orban",
      "leader_name": "Viktor Orban",
      "issue_of_the_day": "The decision affected one of the last Hungarian broadcasters to carry news and talk programming independent of the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban.",
      "outcome": "upheld",
      "outcome_on": "2021-09-01",
      "outcome_note": "Hungary's Curia upheld the Media Council's denial of Klubradio's license renewal in September 2021.",
      "stage": "silence",
      "ladder_note": "A national broadcast regulator ended one of the country's last independent stations' terrestrial license over its paperwork, and the country's top court upheld the decision.",
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 74,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 74th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "in_effect",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "Hungary's Media Council ended Klubradio's decades-old terrestrial broadcast license, citing errors in its renewal application, after the station had built a following as one of the country's few remaining independent voices.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2021-hungary-klubradio-loses-broadcast-license"
    },
    {
      "slug": "2001-russia-gazprom-takeover-ntv",
      "title": "State-controlled Gazprom takes formal control of Russia's independent NTV television network",
      "occurred_on": "2001-04-14",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "RU",
      "country_name": "Russia",
      "continent": "europe",
      "jurisdiction": "RU",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "funding_and_ownership_pressure",
      "tactics": [
        "funding_and_ownership_pressure",
        "outlet_licensing"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "vladimir-putin",
      "leader_name": "Vladimir Putin",
      "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.",
      "outcome": "sustained",
      "outcome_on": "2001-04-14",
      "outcome_note": "The takeover was not reversed; most of NTV's original staff resigned in the following weeks rather than work under the new management.",
      "stage": "silence",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 172,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 172nd of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2000s",
      "granularity": "anchor",
      "status": "historical",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "Gazprom, Russia's state-controlled gas company, used debts owed by NTV's parent company to take control of the country's last major independent television network at a shareholders' meeting, replacing its owner and top editors with its own appointees.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2001-russia-gazprom-takeover-ntv"
    },
    {
      "slug": "1988-uk-broadcasting-ban-sinn-fein",
      "title": "United Kingdom bars broadcasters from airing Sinn Féin members' own voices",
      "occurred_on": "1988-10-01",
      "occurred_on_precision": "month",
      "country": "GB",
      "country_name": "United Kingdom",
      "continent": "europe",
      "jurisdiction": "GB",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "outlet_licensing",
      "tactics": [
        "outlet_licensing",
        "prior_restraint"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "margaret-thatcher",
      "leader_name": "Margaret Thatcher",
      "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.",
      "outcome": "reversed",
      "outcome_on": "1994-09-16",
      "outcome_note": "The broadcasting ban was lifted on September 16, 1994, shortly after the Irish Republican Army's August 1994 ceasefire declaration.",
      "stage": "silence",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 18,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 18th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "1980s",
      "granularity": "anchor",
      "status": "historical",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "Home Secretary Douglas Hurd directed British broadcasters in October 1988 not to air the voices of representatives of Sinn Féin, a party linked to the Irish Republican Army, and other groups linked to violence in Northern Ireland. Broadcasters got around it by having actors read transcripts of the same interviews.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1988-uk-broadcasting-ban-sinn-fein"
    },
    {
      "slug": "1933-germany-editors-law",
      "title": "Nazi Germany's Editors Law bars Jewish journalists from the press and puts editors under state direction",
      "occurred_on": "1933-10-04",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "DE",
      "country_name": "Germany",
      "continent": "europe",
      "jurisdiction": "DE",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "credential_control",
      "tactics": [
        "credential_control",
        "outlet_licensing"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "adolf-hitler",
      "leader_name": "Adolf Hitler",
      "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.",
      "outcome": "reversed",
      "outcome_on": "1945-05-08",
      "outcome_note": "The Editors Law and the Reich Press Chamber ended with Nazi Germany's defeat and unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945.",
      "stage": "silence",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 14,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 14th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "1930s",
      "granularity": "anchor",
      "status": "historical",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "Nine months after Adolf Hitler became chancellor, Germany's Schriftleitergesetz, or Editors Law, required journalists to register with a new state-controlled Reich Press Chamber and barred non-Aryans from the profession, while directing editors to omit anything judged harmful to the Reich's standing.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1933-germany-editors-law"
    },
    {
      "slug": "1922-ussr-glavlit-censorship",
      "title": "Soviet Russia creates Glavlit, a central office to review all printed material before publication",
      "occurred_on": "1922-01-01",
      "occurred_on_precision": "year",
      "country": "RU",
      "country_name": "Russia",
      "continent": "europe",
      "jurisdiction": "RU",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "prior_restraint",
      "tactics": [
        "outlet_licensing",
        "prior_restraint"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "vladimir-lenin",
      "leader_name": "Vladimir Lenin",
      "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.",
      "outcome": "ongoing",
      "outcome_on": "1989-01-01",
      "outcome_note": "Glavlit's authority over publishing was still largely intact through the 1980s, though its standards were relaxed from 1988 under Gorbachev's glasnost policy before its 1991 dissolution.",
      "stage": "silence",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 172,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 172nd of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "1920s",
      "granularity": "anchor",
      "status": "historical",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "In 1922, under Vladimir Lenin's government, Soviet Russia created Glavlit, a single agency with final authority to review newspapers, books, plays and even posters before they could be printed or performed. By 1930 no publication in the Soviet Union could appear without its approval.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1922-ussr-glavlit-censorship"
    }
  ],
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  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
  }
}