{ "title": "Incidents in the United States", "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents?country=US&continent=north-america&page=2", "filters": { "country": "US", "continent": "north-america", "page": "2" }, "sort": "date", "count": 73, "page": 2, "pages": 2, "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": "US", "label": "United States", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" } } ], "continent": [ { "value": "north-america", "label": "North America" } ], "tactic": [ { "value": "access_ban", "label": "Access bans", "count": 22 }, { "value": "surveillance_and_subpoenas", "label": "Surveillance and subpoenas", "count": 16 }, { "value": "secrets_and_espionage_laws", "label": "Secrets and espionage laws", "count": 16 }, { "value": "detention_and_violence", "label": "Detention and violence", "count": 11 }, { "value": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "label": "Funding and ownership pressure", "count": 10 }, { "value": "prior_restraint", "label": "Prior restraint", "count": 9 }, { "value": "lawsuits_against_press", "label": "Lawsuits against the press", "count": 7 }, { "value": "credential_control", "label": "Credential control", "count": 6 }, { "value": "shutdowns_and_blocking", "label": "Shutdowns and blocking", "count": 3 }, { "value": "insult_and_defamation_laws", "label": "Insult and defamation laws", "count": 2 }, { "value": "outlet_licensing", "label": "Licensing and closure of outlets", "count": 1 }, { "value": "disinformation_labeling", "label": "Official labels", "count": 1 }, { "value": "expulsion_and_visa_denial", "label": "Expulsion and visa denial", "count": 1 } ], "stage": [ { "value": "restrict", "label": "Restrict", "count": 21 }, { "value": "pressure", "label": "Pressure", "count": 19 }, { "value": "punish", "label": "Punish", "count": 24 }, { "value": "silence", "label": "Silence", "count": 9 } ], "level": [ { "value": "national", "label": "National", "count": 55 }, { "value": "state_or_province", "label": "State or province", "count": 13 }, { "value": "municipal", "label": "Municipal", "count": 5 } ], "outcome": [ { "value": "reversed", "label": "Reversed", "count": 24 }, { "value": "sustained", "label": "Sustained", "count": 17 }, { "value": "ongoing", "label": "Ongoing", "count": 13 }, { "value": "upheld", "label": "Upheld by a court", "count": 11 }, { "value": "unknown", "label": "Unknown", "count": 8 } ], "leader": [ { "value": "al-smith", "label": "Alfred E. Smith" }, { "value": "barack-obama", "label": "Barack Obama" }, { "value": "bob-martinez", "label": "Bob Martinez" }, { "value": "donald-trump", "label": "Donald Trump" }, { "value": "doug-ducey", "label": "Doug Ducey" }, { "value": "dwight-d-eisenhower", "label": "Dwight D. Eisenhower" }, { "value": "eurith-d-rivers", "label": "Eurith D. Rivers" }, { "value": "franklin-d-roosevelt", "label": "Franklin D. Roosevelt" }, { "value": "george-hw-bush", "label": "George H. W. Bush" }, { "value": "george-w-bush", "label": "George W. Bush" }, { "value": "hugh-l-white", "label": "Hugh L. White" }, { "value": "j-james-exon", "label": "J. James Exon" }, { "value": "jacob-frey", "label": "Jacob Frey" }, { "value": "jeff-landry", "label": "Jeff Landry" }, { "value": "joe-biden", "label": "Joe Biden" }, { "value": "john-patterson", "label": "John Patterson" }, { "value": "karen-bass", "label": "Karen Bass" }, { "value": "laura-kelly", "label": "Laura Kelly" }, { "value": "oscar-k-allen", "label": "Oscar K. Allen" }, { "value": "price-daniel", "label": "Price Daniel" }, { "value": "richard-nixon", "label": "Richard Nixon" }, { "value": "ron-desantis", "label": "Ron DeSantis" }, { "value": "ronald-reagan", "label": "Ronald Reagan" }, { "value": "theodore-christianson", "label": "Theodore Christianson" }, { "value": "theodore-roosevelt", "label": "Theodore Roosevelt" }, { "value": "tim-walz", "label": "Tim Walz" }, { "value": "woodrow-wilson", "label": "Woodrow Wilson" } ], "era": [ { "value": "2020s", "label": "2020s", "count": 34 }, { "value": "2010s", "label": "2010s", "count": 9 }, { "value": "1970s", "label": "1970s", "count": 5 }, { "value": "1910s", "label": "1910s", "count": 4 }, { "value": "1990s", "label": "1990s", "count": 3 }, { "value": "1980s", "label": "1980s", "count": 3 }, { "value": "1960s", "label": "1960s", "count": 3 }, { "value": "1950s", "label": "1950s", "count": 3 }, { "value": "2000s", "label": "2000s", "count": 2 }, { "value": "1940s", "label": "1940s", "count": 2 }, { "value": "1930s", "label": "1930s", "count": 2 }, { "value": "1920s", "label": "1920s", "count": 2 }, { "value": "1900s", "label": "1900s", "count": 1 } ], "year": [ { "value": "1909", "label": "1909", "count": 1 }, { "value": "1917", "label": "1917", "count": 3 }, { "value": "1918", "label": "1918", "count": 1 }, { "value": "1925", "label": "1925", "count": 1 }, { "value": "1927", "label": "1927", "count": 1 }, { "value": "1934", "label": "1934", "count": 1 }, { "value": "1938", "label": "1938", "count": 1 }, { "value": "1941", "label": "1941", "count": 1 }, { "value": "1942", "label": "1942", "count": 1 }, { "value": "1953", "label": "1953", "count": 1 }, { "value": "1955", "label": "1955", "count": 2 }, { "value": "1960", "label": "1960", "count": 1 }, { "value": "1962", "label": "1962", "count": 1 }, { "value": "1969", "label": "1969", "count": 1 }, { "value": "1971", "label": "1971", "count": 4 }, { "value": "1975", "label": "1975", "count": 1 }, { "value": "1983", "label": "1983", "count": 1 }, { "value": "1985", "label": "1985", "count": 1 }, { "value": "1989", "label": "1989", "count": 1 }, { "value": "1990", "label": "1990", "count": 2 }, { "value": "1991", "label": "1991", "count": 1 }, { "value": "2003", "label": "2003", "count": 1 }, { "value": "2005", "label": "2005", "count": 1 }, { "value": "2010", "label": "2010", "count": 1 }, { "value": "2013", "label": "2013", "count": 4 }, { "value": "2014", "label": "2014", "count": 1 }, { "value": "2018", "label": "2018", "count": 2 }, { "value": "2019", "label": "2019", "count": 1 }, { "value": "2020", "label": "2020", "count": 4 }, { "value": "2021", "label": "2021", "count": 2 }, { "value": "2023", "label": "2023", "count": 2 }, { "value": "2024", "label": "2024", "count": 2 }, { "value": "2025", "label": "2025", "count": 21 }, { "value": "2026", "label": "2026", "count": 3 } ], "has_case": [ { "value": "0", "label": "without a court case", "count": 70 }, { "value": "1", "label": "with a court case", "count": 3 } ] }, "results": [ { "slug": "1983-us-grenada-press-exclusion", "title": "United States military bars journalists from the invasion of Grenada", "occurred_on": "1983-10-25", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "access_ban", "tactics": [ "access_ban" ], "leader_slug": "ronald-reagan", "leader_name": "Ronald Reagan", "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.", "outcome": "reversed", "outcome_on": "1985-04-01", "outcome_note": "The Pentagon created a standing national media pool in 1985 on the Sidle Commission's recommendation, formally reversing the total exclusion used in Grenada.", "stage": "restrict", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "1980s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "When United States forces invaded the Caribbean island of Grenada on October 25, 1983, military commanders kept all journalists away from the island for the first two days of fighting, citing operational reasons. Protests from news organizations led the Pentagon to create a rotating press pool for future operations.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1983-us-grenada-press-exclusion" }, { "slug": "1975-us-nebraska-press-v-stuart-restrictive-order", "title": "United States judge bars the press from reporting a murder suspect's confession before trial", "occurred_on": "1975-10-27", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US-NE", "level": "state_or_province", "tactic_primary": "prior_restraint", "tactics": [ "prior_restraint" ], "leader_slug": "j-james-exon", "leader_name": "J. James Exon", "issue_of_the_day": "The killing of six members of one family drew widespread local, regional and national news coverage in a small Nebraska town, and courts were weighing how to balance a defendant's right to a fair trial against the press's right to report on pending criminal proceedings.", "outcome": "reversed", "outcome_on": "1976-06-30", "outcome_note": "The Supreme Court of the United States reversed the restrictive order on June 30, 1976, finding the government had not met the heavy burden required to justify a prior restraint on publication.", "stage": "silence", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "1970s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "On October 27, 1975, Nebraska District Judge Hugh Stuart ordered news organizations covering a mass murder near Sutherland, Nebraska, not to report a suspect's confession or other evidence before jury selection. The Supreme Court of the United States, the country's highest court, struck down the order on June 30, 1976, ruling that the government had not shown the heavy justification a prior restraint on publication requires.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1975-us-nebraska-press-v-stuart-restrictive-order" }, { "slug": "1971-nixon-white-house-compiles-enemies-list", "title": "United States: Nixon White House \"enemies list\" naming journalists, September 1971", "occurred_on": "1971-09-09", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas", "tactics": [ "surveillance_and_subpoenas" ], "leader_slug": "richard-nixon", "leader_name": "Richard Nixon", "issue_of_the_day": null, "outcome": "unknown", "outcome_on": null, "outcome_note": "No ruling or formal rescission applies; the lists became public during the Watergate investigations of 1973 to 1974.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "1970s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "On September 9, 1971, the office of Charles Colson, special counsel to the president of the United States, Richard Nixon, sent White House Counsel John Dean, the president's lawyer on official matters, a memorandum naming 20 people as an initial \"enemies list.\" The list named political opponents, including journalists, for possible action through federal agencies, such as tax audits by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the United States federal tax agency. The IRS commissioner, Donald C. Alexander, refused to launch audits of the people on the list. The lists became public during the Watergate investigations into Nixon's White House.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1971-nixon-white-house-compiles-enemies-list" }, { "slug": "1971-us-nixon-enemies-list", "title": "Nixon White House compiles an enemies list naming journalists for official pressure", "occurred_on": "1971-08-16", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas", "tactics": [ "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "surveillance_and_subpoenas" ], "leader_slug": "richard-nixon", "leader_name": "Richard Nixon", "issue_of_the_day": "Nixon's aides were reacting to sustained critical coverage and commentary from named journalists during his first term, including Mary McGrory's columns, which an internal notation described as habitually critical to the president.", "outcome": "reversed", "outcome_on": "1973-06-27", "outcome_note": "The list became public during John Dean's Senate Watergate Committee testimony, discrediting the effort as Nixon's presidency unraveled over the wider Watergate scandal.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "1970s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "White House Counsel John Dean wrote a memo on how to use federal agencies against President Nixon's political opponents, and the resulting list of more than 200 names included journalists such as CBS News correspondent Daniel Schorr. It became public during the 1973 Senate Watergate hearings.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1971-us-nixon-enemies-list" }, { "slug": "1971-us-pentagon-papers-injunction", "title": "United States government seeks an injunction to stop The New York Times publishing the Pentagon Papers", "occurred_on": "1971-06-15", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "prior_restraint", "tactics": [ "prior_restraint", "secrets_and_espionage_laws" ], "leader_slug": "richard-nixon", "leader_name": "Richard Nixon", "issue_of_the_day": "The Pentagon Papers documented decades of internal government decision-making on the Vietnam War that contradicted public statements by several administrations, and the Nixon administration sought to prevent further disclosure of the classified history.", "outcome": "reversed", "outcome_on": "1971-06-30", "outcome_note": "The Supreme Court ruled 6 to 3 that the government's request for an injunction against publication failed to overcome the heavy presumption against prior restraint.", "stage": "silence", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "1970s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "After The New York Times began publishing a leaked secret history of the Vietnam War, the Nixon administration obtained a court order stopping further publication, the first such order against a major American newspaper. The Supreme Court lifted it two weeks later, ruling the government had not justified blocking publication in advance.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1971-us-pentagon-papers-injunction" }, { "slug": "1971-us-zurcher-stanford-daily-newsroom-search", "title": "United States police search a student newspaper's offices for photographs of a protest", "occurred_on": "1971-04-12", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US-CA", "level": "municipal", "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas", "tactics": [ "surveillance_and_subpoenas" ], "leader_slug": "ronald-reagan", "leader_name": "Ronald Reagan", "issue_of_the_day": "A confrontation between police and demonstrators occupying Stanford University Hospital's administrative offices had injured nine officers, and prosecutors wanted photographs the student newspaper had taken of the clash to identify people involved.", "outcome": "upheld", "outcome_on": "1978-05-31", "outcome_note": "The Supreme Court of the United States ruled 5 to 3 that the search of the Daily's newsroom did not violate the First or Fourth Amendments.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "1970s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "On April 12, 1971, Palo Alto police searched the newsroom of The Stanford Daily, a student newspaper, for photographs of a clash between demonstrators and police at Stanford University Hospital, though no member of the paper's staff was suspected of a crime. The Supreme Court of the United States ruled 5 to 3 on May 31, 1978, that the search did not violate the First or Fourth Amendments.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1971-us-zurcher-stanford-daily-newsroom-search" }, { "slug": "1972-us-branzburg-v-hayes-reporters-privilege", "title": "United States Supreme Court rules reporters have no privilege to refuse grand jury subpoenas", "occurred_on": "1969-01-01", "occurred_on_precision": "year", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas", "tactics": [ "surveillance_and_subpoenas" ], "leader_slug": "richard-nixon", "leader_name": "Richard Nixon", "issue_of_the_day": "Branzburg's articles on drug use and manufacturing drew the attention of Kentucky prosecutors, who wanted him to identify the people he had described witnessing commit the underlying offenses.", "outcome": "upheld", "outcome_on": "1972-06-29", "outcome_note": "The Supreme Court upheld the grand jury's power to compel Branzburg's testimony 5 to 4, finding no First Amendment reporter's privilege.", "stage": "punish", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "1960s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "Louisville Courier-Journal reporter Paul Branzburg was subpoenaed by a Kentucky grand jury, a body that investigates possible crimes, after he wrote about drug users he had observed. The Supreme Court ruled in 1972 that the First Amendment gives reporters no special right to withhold sources or information from a grand jury.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1972-us-branzburg-v-hayes-reporters-privilege" }, { "slug": "1962-us-estes-v-texas-camera-ban", "title": "United States: Texas judge allows televised pretrial hearing in the Billie Sol Estes case; Supreme Court later limits cameras in criminal courtrooms", "occurred_on": "1962-09-24", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US-TX", "level": "state_or_province", "tactic_primary": "access_ban", "tactics": [ "access_ban" ], "leader_slug": "price-daniel", "leader_name": "Price Daniel", "issue_of_the_day": "Estes's pretrial hearing had drawn dozens of cameramen and news photographers to the Tyler courtroom, and the Supreme Court weighed whether that presence had compromised the fairness of his trial.", "outcome": "reversed", "outcome_on": "1965-06-07", "outcome_note": "The Supreme Court reversed Estes's conviction on June 7, 1965, ruling that the televised proceedings had denied him due process of law.", "stage": "restrict", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "1960s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "A Texas state judge in Tyler allowed live television and photography at pretrial hearings and part of the criminal trial of financier Billie Sol Estes, over defense objections. On June 7, 1965, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled 5 to 4 that the resulting disruption denied Estes due process and reversed his conviction, while dissenting justices warned the decision could limit the public's ability to know what happens in courts.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1962-us-estes-v-texas-camera-ban" }, { "slug": "1960-us-montgomery-commissioner-sues-new-york-times-for-libel", "title": "United States: Montgomery, Alabama commissioner sues The New York Times for libel over a civil rights advertisement", "occurred_on": "1960-01-01", "occurred_on_precision": "year", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US-NY", "level": "state_or_province", "tactic_primary": "lawsuits_against_press", "tactics": [ "insult_and_defamation_laws", "lawsuits_against_press" ], "leader_slug": "john-patterson", "leader_name": "John Patterson", "issue_of_the_day": "The advertisement had described police actions against civil rights demonstrators who supported the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. in Montgomery, and Sullivan, who supervised the police department, considered the description a reflection on him personally.", "outcome": "reversed", "outcome_on": "1964-03-09", "outcome_note": "The Supreme Court of the United States reversed the Alabama libel judgment on March 9, 1964, and remanded the case for further proceedings consistent with its opinion.", "stage": "punish", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "1960s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "L. B. Sullivan, an elected Montgomery, Alabama city commissioner who supervised the police department, sued The New York Times for libel over a 1960 civil rights advertisement and won a $500,000 jury verdict. On March 9, 1964, the Supreme Court of the United States reversed the judgment, ruling that a public official cannot recover libel damages over criticism of official conduct without proving the statement was made with actual malice.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1960-us-montgomery-commissioner-sues-new-york-times-for-libel" }, { "slug": "1955-us-eastland-subcommittee-subpoenas-new-york-times", "title": "United States Senate panel subpoenas dozens of New York Times journalists over Communist ties", "occurred_on": "1955-11-01", "occurred_on_precision": "month", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas", "tactics": [ "surveillance_and_subpoenas" ], "leader_slug": "dwight-d-eisenhower", "leader_name": "Dwight D. Eisenhower", "issue_of_the_day": "Senator Eastland's subcommittee was investigating what it described as Communist Party influence in American newsrooms and broadcasting during the Cold War, and treated past party membership among journalists as grounds for scrutiny.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "1956-12-01", "outcome_note": "The dismissals and resignations at The New York Times and other papers were not reversed; the paper said at year's end it had made no further dismissals beyond the initial cases.", "stage": "punish", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "1950s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "The Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, led by Senator James Eastland, issued 35 subpoenas over past or present Communist Party ties in the press, and 26 of them went to New York Times staff. The newspaper protested but several employees who would not answer were fired or forced to resign.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1955-us-eastland-subcommittee-subpoenas-new-york-times" }, { "slug": "1955-us-mississippi-till-trial-press-segregation", "title": "United States: Tallahatchie County, Mississippi sheriff segregates Black reporters at the Emmett Till murder trial, September 1955", "occurred_on": "1955-09-19", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US-MS", "level": "state_or_province", "tactic_primary": "access_ban", "tactics": [ "access_ban" ], "leader_slug": "hugh-l-white", "leader_name": "Hugh L. White", "issue_of_the_day": "Till, a 14 year old Black boy from Chicago, had been killed in the Mississippi Delta weeks earlier, and the trial drew national and international reporters to a rural county courthouse still operating under Mississippi's segregation laws.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": null, "outcome_note": "The segregated seating for reporters and spectators held for the length of the trial, which ended in the acquittal of both defendants by an all white jury.", "stage": "restrict", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "1950s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "When the murder trial of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam opened in Sumner, Mississippi, on September 19, 1955, Tallahatchie County Sheriff Clarence Strider assigned Black reporters covering the trial, along with Michigan congressman Charles Diggs, to a separate table at the side of the courtroom rather than seats among the white press.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1955-us-mississippi-till-trial-press-segregation" }, { "slug": "1953-us-wechsler-mccarthy-subpoena", "title": "United States: Senator Joseph McCarthy's subcommittee questions New York Post editor James Wechsler, 1953", "occurred_on": "1953-01-01", "occurred_on_precision": "year", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas", "tactics": [ "surveillance_and_subpoenas" ], "leader_slug": "dwight-d-eisenhower", "leader_name": "Dwight D. Eisenhower", "issue_of_the_day": "By 1953, McCarthy's investigations were examining journalists and other public figures over Communist Party ties from decades earlier, treating a subject's political past as grounds for a congressional hearing regardless of their later, publicly stated views.", "outcome": "unknown", "outcome_on": null, "outcome_note": "McCarthy's subcommittee did not formally sanction Wechsler, who remained editor of the New York Post, though he lost a television spot the following year after being called a \"controversial personality.\"", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "1950s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "In 1953, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, a Senate panel led by Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, questioned New York Post editor James Wechsler about his membership in the Young Communist League in the 1930s. McCarthy suggested in the hearing that a former Communist could use control of a newspaper to spread material favoring Communism while posing as an anti-Communist.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1953-us-wechsler-mccarthy-subpoena" }, { "slug": "1942-us-chicago-tribune-midway-espionage-act", "title": "United States: Justice Department investigates the Chicago Tribune under the Espionage Act over Battle of Midway coverage", "occurred_on": "1942-08-01", "occurred_on_precision": "month", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "secrets_and_espionage_laws", "tactics": [ "secrets_and_espionage_laws" ], "leader_slug": "franklin-d-roosevelt", "leader_name": "Franklin D. Roosevelt", "issue_of_the_day": "The Battle of Midway, fought in early June 1942, was a major turning point in the Pacific war, and the United States guarded its codebreaking success as one of the most sensitive secrets of the conflict.", "outcome": "reversed", "outcome_on": "1942-08-01", "outcome_note": "The federal grand jury investigating the Tribune and Johnston declined to issue any indictment.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "1940s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "The United States Department of Justice convened a federal grand jury to consider Espionage Act charges against the Chicago Tribune and correspondent Stanley Johnston after the newspaper published details suggesting the Navy had broken Japanese naval codes ahead of the Battle of Midway. The grand jury declined to return an indictment.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1942-us-chicago-tribune-midway-espionage-act" }, { "slug": "1941-us-office-of-censorship-wartime-press-code", "title": "United States creates an Office of Censorship and a wartime code for the press", "occurred_on": "1941-12-19", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "prior_restraint", "tactics": [ "prior_restraint", "secrets_and_espionage_laws" ], "leader_slug": "franklin-d-roosevelt", "leader_name": "Franklin D. Roosevelt", "issue_of_the_day": "The United States had just entered the Second World War after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the government wanted to prevent newspapers and broadcasters from unintentionally publishing information useful to enemy forces.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "1945-09-28", "outcome_note": "The Office of Censorship operated on the press's voluntary compliance through the war and was abolished by executive order after Japan's surrender.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "1940s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "Twelve days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt created the Office of Censorship. Its director, Byron Price, a former Associated Press editor, wrote a Code of Wartime Practices asking newspapers and broadcasters to withhold information such as troop movements, and most of the press followed it voluntarily.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1941-us-office-of-censorship-wartime-press-code" }, { "slug": "1938-us-lovell-v-griffin-permit-requirement", "title": "United States: Supreme Court strikes down a Georgia city's permit requirement for distributing literature, 1938", "occurred_on": "1938-03-28", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US-GA", "level": "municipal", "tactic_primary": "prior_restraint", "tactics": [ "prior_restraint" ], "leader_slug": "eurith-d-rivers", "leader_name": "Eurith D. Rivers", "issue_of_the_day": "Lovell was a Jehovah's Witness distributing religious pamphlets and a magazine, activity that Griffin's ordinance treated the same as any other literature requiring a permit.", "outcome": "reversed", "outcome_on": "1938-03-28", "outcome_note": "The Supreme Court reversed Lovell's conviction and sent the case back for further proceedings consistent with its ruling.", "stage": "silence", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "1930s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "The city of Griffin, Georgia, required written permission from the city manager before anyone could distribute pamphlets, circulars or magazines within its limits, treating unlicensed distribution as a punishable nuisance. Alma Lovell was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for distributing religious literature without a permit, and the Supreme Court of the United States reversed her conviction in 1938, ruling that the ordinance was invalid on its face.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1938-us-lovell-v-griffin-permit-requirement" }, { "slug": "1934-us-louisiana-newspaper-tax-grosjean", "title": "United States: Louisiana taxes large newspapers' advertising revenue; the tax is struck down in Grosjean v. American Press Co.", "occurred_on": "1934-07-12", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US-LA", "level": "state_or_province", "tactic_primary": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "tactics": [ "funding_and_ownership_pressure" ], "leader_slug": "oscar-k-allen", "leader_name": "Oscar K. Allen", "issue_of_the_day": "The tax followed Senator Huey Long's rise to dominate Louisiana politics after his election to the United States Senate in 1932, and applied to the state's largest newspapers.", "outcome": "reversed", "outcome_on": "1936-02-10", "outcome_note": "The Supreme Court's ruling voided the tax and left Louisiana's large newspapers free of it.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "1930s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "Louisiana taxed the gross receipts that businesses earned from advertising in newspapers with circulations above 20,000 copies a week, a threshold that caught the state's largest papers. The Supreme Court of the United States ruled unanimously in 1936 that the tax operated as a restraint on advertising revenue and circulation, and struck it down.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1934-us-louisiana-newspaper-tax-grosjean" }, { "slug": "1931-us-near-v-minnesota-gag-law", "title": "Minnesota closes The Saturday Press in 1927; the Supreme Court strikes down the law in 1931", "occurred_on": "1927-01-01", "occurred_on_precision": "year", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US-MN", "level": "state_or_province", "tactic_primary": "prior_restraint", "tactics": [ "prior_restraint" ], "leader_slug": "theodore-christianson", "leader_name": "Theodore Christianson", "issue_of_the_day": "The Saturday Press had run articles accusing Minneapolis officials, police and a local gangster of corruption and racketeering, allegations the county attorney treated as scandalous and defamatory under the state's 1925 nuisance law.", "outcome": "reversed", "outcome_on": "1931-06-01", "outcome_note": "The Supreme Court of the United States struck down the Minnesota law 5 to 4 as a restraint on publication in advance that the Constitution did not allow.", "stage": "silence", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "1920s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "A Hennepin County attorney used Minnesota's 1925 Public Nuisance Law to shut down The Saturday Press, a Minneapolis paper accusing officials of corruption. In 1931 the Supreme Court of the United States struck the law down, ruling that stopping a paper before publication was itself a form of press controls.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1931-us-near-v-minnesota-gag-law" }, { "slug": "1925-us-supreme-court-upholds-gitlow-anarchy-conviction", "title": "United States: Supreme Court upholds Benjamin Gitlow's conviction under New York's Criminal Anarchy Law, 1925", "occurred_on": "1925-06-08", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US-NY", "level": "state_or_province", "tactic_primary": "secrets_and_espionage_laws", "tactics": [ "detention_and_violence", "secrets_and_espionage_laws" ], "leader_slug": "al-smith", "leader_name": "Alfred E. Smith", "issue_of_the_day": "Fears of growing socialist and union activity during the Red Scare that followed the First World War led Congress and state legislatures, including New York's, to adopt new restrictions on radical speech and publishing.", "outcome": "upheld", "outcome_on": "1925-06-08", "outcome_note": "The Supreme Court's decision upheld Gitlow's conviction and New York's Criminal Anarchy Law while establishing that free speech and press protections apply to state governments through the Fourteenth Amendment.", "stage": "punish", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "1920s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "The United States Supreme Court voted seven to two on June 8, 1925 to uphold the conviction of socialist publisher Benjamin Gitlow, who had been tried and sentenced to prison under New York's 1902 Criminal Anarchy Law for distributing 16,000 copies of the Left Wing Manifesto. The Court also held for the first time that the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause extends free speech and press protections to state governments.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1925-us-supreme-court-upholds-gitlow-anarchy-conviction" }, { "slug": "1918-us-espionage-act-conviction-of-editor-frohwerk", "title": "United States convicts newspaper editor Jacob Frohwerk under the Espionage Act, June 1918", "occurred_on": "1918-06-26", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "secrets_and_espionage_laws", "tactics": [ "detention_and_violence", "secrets_and_espionage_laws" ], "leader_slug": "woodrow-wilson", "leader_name": "Woodrow Wilson", "issue_of_the_day": "The United States had entered the First World War in April 1917 and introduced a national draft, and federal prosecutors brought Espionage Act cases against numerous newspapers and speakers who opposed the war effort.", "outcome": "upheld", "outcome_on": "1919-03-10", "outcome_note": "The Supreme Court's ruling left Frohwerk's conviction and ten year sentence in place.", "stage": "punish", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "1910s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "Jacob Frohwerk, an associate editor of the German language newspaper the Missouri Staats-Zeitung, was tried and convicted in June 1918 under the Espionage Act of 1917 for publishing articles opposing American participation in the First World War, and was sentenced to ten years in prison on each of twelve counts, to run concurrently. The Supreme Court of the United States upheld the conviction on March 10, 1919.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1918-us-espionage-act-conviction-of-editor-frohwerk" }, { "slug": "1917-us-espionage-act-bars-the-masses-from-the-mail", "title": "United States postmaster bars the magazine The Masses from the mail under the Espionage Act", "occurred_on": "1917-07-01", "occurred_on_precision": "month", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "secrets_and_espionage_laws", "tactics": [ "secrets_and_espionage_laws", "shutdowns_and_blocking" ], "leader_slug": "woodrow-wilson", "leader_name": "Woodrow Wilson", "issue_of_the_day": "The United States had entered the First World War three months earlier and introduced a military draft. The Masses had run cartoons and articles opposing the war and conscription, which the Post Office treated as material likely to obstruct recruiting.", "outcome": "upheld", "outcome_on": "1917-11-01", "outcome_note": "The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed Judge Hand's order later in 1917, and the Post Office's mail ban on The Masses stood.", "stage": "silence", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "1910s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "Weeks after the United States entered the First World War, the New York postmaster used the new Espionage Act, a law against interfering with military recruitment, to bar the socialist magazine The Masses from the mail. A judge's order protecting the magazine was reversed on appeal.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1917-us-espionage-act-bars-the-masses-from-the-mail" }, { "slug": "1917-us-mother-earth-editor-emma-goldman-convicted-magazine-barred-from-mail", "title": "United States convicts Mother Earth editor Emma Goldman of draft conspiracy and bars her magazine from the mail", "occurred_on": "1917-01-01", "occurred_on_precision": "year", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "detention_and_violence", "tactics": [ "detention_and_violence", "expulsion_and_visa_denial", "shutdowns_and_blocking" ], "leader_slug": "woodrow-wilson", "leader_name": "Woodrow Wilson", "issue_of_the_day": "The United States had entered the First World War in April 1917 and introduced a national draft that spring, and federal authorities moved against anarchists, socialists and other war opponents under new wartime laws.", "outcome": "upheld", "outcome_on": "1918-01-14", "outcome_note": "Goldman's conviction stood, and she was deported from the United States in 1919.", "stage": "punish", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "1910s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "Emma Goldman, editor of the anarchist magazine Mother Earth, was convicted with fellow anarchist Alexander Berkman of conspiring against the newly enacted Selective Draft Law and received the maximum two year sentence and a ten thousand dollar fine. Postal authorities then withdrew Mother Earth's second class mailing privileges, and Goldman was deported from the United States in 1919.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1917-us-mother-earth-editor-emma-goldman-convicted-magazine-barred-from-mail" }, { "slug": "1917-us-burleson-mail-ban-milwaukee-leader", "title": "United States Postmaster General Burleson strips the Milwaukee Leader of its mailing rate", "occurred_on": "1917-01-01", "occurred_on_precision": "year", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "shutdowns_and_blocking", "tactics": [ "secrets_and_espionage_laws", "shutdowns_and_blocking" ], "leader_slug": "woodrow-wilson", "leader_name": "Woodrow Wilson", "issue_of_the_day": "The Leader had published articles criticizing United States participation in the First World War and the draft, which the Post Office treated as violations of the Espionage Act's ban on obstructing military recruitment.", "outcome": "upheld", "outcome_on": "1921-03-07", "outcome_note": "The Supreme Court upheld the revocation of the Leader's mailing rate 7 to 2 in United States ex rel. Milwaukee Social Democratic Publishing Co. v. Burleson.", "stage": "silence", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "1910s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "Postmaster General Albert Burleson used the wartime Espionage Act to strip the Milwaukee Leader, a socialist daily, of its low-cost second-class mailing rate, cutting off its main channel to readers. The Supreme Court upheld the revocation in 1921, over two dissents warning it amounted to press controls.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1917-us-burleson-mail-ban-milwaukee-leader" }, { "slug": "1909-us-panama-canal-libel-prosecutions", "title": "United States: President Theodore Roosevelt seeks criminal libel indictments against the New York World and the Indianapolis News over Panama Canal reporting", "occurred_on": "1909-03-04", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "insult_and_defamation_laws", "tactics": [ "insult_and_defamation_laws", "lawsuits_against_press" ], "leader_slug": "theodore-roosevelt", "leader_name": "Theodore Roosevelt", "issue_of_the_day": "The New York World and the Indianapolis News had published reports on who had profited from the United States' purchase of the Panama Canal, reports that Roosevelt disputed as libelous.", "outcome": "reversed", "outcome_on": "1911-01-03", "outcome_note": "The Supreme Court's 1911 ruling that no federal criminal libel law existed for offenses on federal enclaves left the World and the News without convictions and was later described as an early safeguard for the freedom of the press.", "stage": "punish", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "1900s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "President Theodore Roosevelt sought federal criminal libel indictments against the publishers of the New York World and the Indianapolis News after they reported that he and other officials had profited from the United States' purchase of the Panama Canal. Federal courts in New York and Indiana dismissed the indictments, and the Supreme Court upheld that result in 1911.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1909-us-panama-canal-libel-prosecutions" } ], "downloads": { "csv": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents?country=US&continent=north-america&page=2&format=csv", "json": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents.json?country=US&continent=north-america&page=2", "md": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents.md?country=US&continent=north-america&page=2" }, "license": { "name": "CC BY 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" } }