{
  "title": "Incidents in the United States, stage: silence, national level",
  "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents?country=US&stage=silence&level=national",
  "filters": {
    "country": "US",
    "stage": "silence",
    "level": "national"
  },
  "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": "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": "secrets_and_espionage_laws",
        "label": "Secrets and espionage laws",
        "count": 3
      },
      {
        "value": "shutdowns_and_blocking",
        "label": "Shutdowns and blocking",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "funding_and_ownership_pressure",
        "label": "Funding and ownership pressure",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "prior_restraint",
        "label": "Prior restraint",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "stage": [
      {
        "value": "silence",
        "label": "Silence",
        "count": 4
      }
    ],
    "level": [
      {
        "value": "national",
        "label": "National",
        "count": 4
      }
    ],
    "outcome": [
      {
        "value": "upheld",
        "label": "Upheld by a court",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "ongoing",
        "label": "Ongoing",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "reversed",
        "label": "Reversed",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "leader": [
      {
        "value": "donald-trump",
        "label": "Donald Trump"
      },
      {
        "value": "richard-nixon",
        "label": "Richard Nixon"
      },
      {
        "value": "woodrow-wilson",
        "label": "Woodrow Wilson"
      }
    ],
    "era": [
      {
        "value": "1910s",
        "label": "1910s",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "2020s",
        "label": "2020s",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "1970s",
        "label": "1970s",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "year": [
      {
        "value": "1917",
        "label": "1917",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "1971",
        "label": "1971",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "2025",
        "label": "2025",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "has_case": [
      {
        "value": "0",
        "label": "without a court case",
        "count": 4
      }
    ]
  },
  "results": [
    {
      "slug": "2025-usagm-moves-to-shut-down-voice-of-america",
      "title": "United States: U.S. Agency for Global Media action to shut down Voice of America operations, March 2025",
      "occurred_on": "2025-03-15",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "US",
      "country_name": "United States",
      "continent": "north-america",
      "jurisdiction": "US",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "funding_and_ownership_pressure",
      "tactics": [
        "funding_and_ownership_pressure"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "donald-trump",
      "leader_name": "Donald Trump",
      "issue_of_the_day": null,
      "outcome": "ongoing",
      "outcome_on": "2025-03-28",
      "outcome_note": "A temporary restraining order of 2025-03-28 barred USAGM from reducing its workforce; litigation continued into 2026.",
      "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": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "in_effect",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "Beginning on March 15, 2025, the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the United States federal agency that oversees the government's international broadcasters, placed most of its staff on paid administrative leave and moved to shut down the operations of Voice of America (VOA), the United States government's international broadcaster. Kari Lake, a senior advisor at USAGM, carried out the action under an executive order of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, to reduce the federal bureaucracy. VOA journalists sued on March 21, 2025, and on March 28, 2025, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order, a short-term order made before a full hearing, that barred the agency from reducing its workforce.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-usagm-moves-to-shut-down-voice-of-america"
    },
    {
      "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": "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-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"
    }
  ],
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  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
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}