{ "title": "Incidents: licensing and closure of outlets, stage: silence, outcome sustained", "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents?tactic=outlet_licensing&stage=silence&outcome=sustained", "filters": { "tactic": "outlet_licensing", "stage": "silence", "outcome": "sustained" }, "sort": "date", "count": 9, "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": "AR", "label": "Argentina", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 98, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 98th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" } }, { "value": "KH", "label": "Cambodia", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 151, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 151st of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" } }, { "value": "HK", "label": "Hong Kong", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 140, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 140th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" } }, { "value": "MM", "label": "Myanmar", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 166, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 166th 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": "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" } }, { "value": "VE", "label": "Venezuela", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 159, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 159th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" } } ], "continent": [ { "value": "asia", "label": "Asia" }, { "value": "europe", "label": "Europe" }, { "value": "south-america", "label": "South America" } ], "tactic": [ { "value": "outlet_licensing", "label": "Licensing and closure of outlets", "count": 9 }, { "value": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "label": "Funding and ownership pressure", "count": 3 }, { "value": "detention_and_violence", "label": "Detention and violence", "count": 1 } ], "stage": [ { "value": "silence", "label": "Silence", "count": 9 } ], "level": [ { "value": "national", "label": "National", "count": 9 } ], "outcome": [ { "value": "sustained", "label": "Sustained", "count": 9 } ], "leader": [ { "value": "carrie-lam", "label": "Carrie Lam" }, { "value": "hugo-chavez", "label": "Hugo Chavez" }, { "value": "hun-sen", "label": "Hun Sen" }, { "value": "javier-milei", "label": "Javier Milei" }, { "value": "min-aung-hlaing", "label": "Min Aung Hlaing" }, { "value": "recep-tayyip-erdogan", "label": "Recep Tayyip Erdoğan" }, { "value": "vladimir-putin", "label": "Vladimir Putin" } ], "era": [ { "value": "2020s", "label": "2020s", "count": 5 }, { "value": "2010s", "label": "2010s", "count": 2 }, { "value": "2000s", "label": "2000s", "count": 2 } ], "year": [ { "value": "2001", "label": "2001", "count": 1 }, { "value": "2007", "label": "2007", "count": 1 }, { "value": "2016", "label": "2016", "count": 1 }, { "value": "2017", "label": "2017", "count": 1 }, { "value": "2021", "label": "2021", "count": 2 }, { "value": "2022", "label": "2022", "count": 1 }, { "value": "2023", "label": "2023", "count": 1 }, { "value": "2024", "label": "2024", "count": 1 } ], "has_case": [ { "value": "0", "label": "without a court case", "count": 9 } ] }, "results": [ { "slug": "2024-argentina-milei-closes-telam", "title": "Milei's government shuts down Argentina's state news agency Telam", "occurred_on": "2024-03-04", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "AR", "country_name": "Argentina", "continent": "south-america", "jurisdiction": "AR", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "tactics": [ "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "outlet_licensing" ], "leader_slug": "javier-milei", "leader_name": "Javier Milei", "issue_of_the_day": "Milei had campaigned against what he called wasteful and politically one-sided state spending, and Telam, founded in 1945, had long been associated with the governments of the Kirchner political movement he defeated in the 2023 election.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": null, "outcome_note": "Telam's original newsroom remained closed; the agency was later reorganized as a smaller state communications operation.", "stage": "silence", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 98, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 98th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "President Javier Milei's government fenced off and shut down Telam, Argentina's state-owned news agency, calling it a public-relations operation for the prior Kirchnerist governments; unions and journalist groups called the closure one of the most serious blows to press freedom in decades of Argentine democracy.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2024-argentina-milei-closes-telam" }, { "slug": "2023-cambodia-shutters-voice-of-democracy", "title": "Cambodia: Prime Minister Hun Sen orders Voice of Democracy's license revoked over one article", "occurred_on": "2023-02-13", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "KH", "country_name": "Cambodia", "continent": "asia", "jurisdiction": "KH", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "outlet_licensing", "tactics": [ "outlet_licensing" ], "leader_slug": "hun-sen", "leader_name": "Hun Sen", "issue_of_the_day": "The article, published February 8, 2023, reported that Hun Sen's son and eventual successor, Hun Manet, had overstepped his authority by signing a $100,000 earthquake aid agreement for Turkiye.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2023-02-13", "outcome_note": "The Ministry of Information revoked the license as Hun Sen ordered, with no reversal reported in the source reviewed.", "stage": "silence", "ladder_note": "The head of government personally ordered a national outlet's operating license revoked over one article, rejecting a published apology, rather than pursuing a defamation suit.", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 151, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 151st of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "Prime Minister Hun Sen personally ordered the license of independent outlet Voice of Democracy revoked over an article about an earthquake-aid agreement signed by his son, rejecting the outlet's published apology.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2023-cambodia-shutters-voice-of-democracy" }, { "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-hong-kong-apple-daily-forced-closure", "title": "China (Hong Kong): Apple Daily closes after its assets are frozen under the national security law", "occurred_on": "2021-06-24", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "HK", "country_name": "Hong Kong", "continent": "asia", "jurisdiction": "HK", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "outlet_licensing", "tactics": [ "outlet_licensing" ], "leader_slug": "carrie-lam", "leader_name": "Carrie Lam", "issue_of_the_day": "The closure followed Hong Kong's 2019 to 2020 pro-democracy protests and Beijing's imposition of a national security law on the territory in June 2020, which criminalized broadly defined acts of subversion and collusion with foreign forces.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2021-06-24", "outcome_note": "Apple Daily did not resume publication and its former executives faced additional charges as of the December 2021 report reviewed.", "stage": "silence", "ladder_note": "A newspaper's assets were frozen and its senior editors charged with offenses carrying up to life imprisonment, ending publication entirely rather than a licensing dispute or fine.", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 140, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 140th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "Apple Daily, Hong Kong's largest pro-democracy newspaper, printed its final edition after the government froze its parent company's assets and arrested its editors under the national security law imposed on the territory in 2020.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2021-hong-kong-apple-daily-forced-closure" }, { "slug": "2021-myanmar-junta-revokes-media-licenses", "title": "Myanmar junta revokes five outlets' licenses and raids newsrooms after coup", "occurred_on": "2021-03-08", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "MM", "country_name": "Myanmar", "continent": "asia", "jurisdiction": "MM", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "outlet_licensing", "tactics": [ "detention_and_violence", "outlet_licensing" ], "leader_slug": "min-aung-hlaing", "leader_name": "Min Aung Hlaing", "issue_of_the_day": "The outlets had been covering nationwide protests against the military's February 1, 2021 seizure of power from Myanmar's elected government, coverage the junta sought to stop by removing the outlets' legal authorization to operate.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": null, "outcome_note": "The five outlets' licenses were not restored; CPJ counted at least 32 journalists still imprisoned as of July 2021.", "stage": "silence", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 166, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 166th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "Weeks after seizing power, Myanmar's military junta revoked the operating licenses of five independent media outlets covering protests against the coup and raided two of their newsrooms, seizing computers and files; journalists from the outlets were later arrested and charged under a broadened penal-code provision on spreading 'false news.'", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2021-myanmar-junta-revokes-media-licenses" }, { "slug": "2017-cambodia-daily-closed-tax-bill", "title": "Cambodia's government forces the closure of The Cambodia Daily with a disputed multimillion-dollar tax bill", "occurred_on": "2017-09-04", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "KH", "country_name": "Cambodia", "continent": "asia", "jurisdiction": "KH", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "outlet_licensing", "tactics": [ "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "outlet_licensing" ], "leader_slug": "hun-sen", "leader_name": "Hun Sen", "issue_of_the_day": "Preparations for Cambodia's 2018 general election and a wider government campaign against independent media and civil-society groups seen as sympathetic to the opposition.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2017-09-04", "outcome_note": "The Cambodia Daily did not reopen; its closure coincided with a wider campaign against independent outlets and civil-society groups ahead of Cambodia's 2018 election.", "stage": "silence", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 151, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 151st of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "2010s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "Cambodia's tax authority presented the independent, English-language Cambodia Daily with a $6.3 million bill the paper called arbitrary and undocumented, forcing the 24-year-old newspaper to close rather than pay, amid a wider campaign against independent media before 2018 elections.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2017-cambodia-daily-closed-tax-bill" }, { "slug": "2016-turkey-post-coup-media-closures", "title": "Turkey closes more than 100 media outlets by decree after a failed coup attempt", "occurred_on": "2016-07-27", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "TR", "country_name": "Türkiye", "continent": "asia", "jurisdiction": "TR", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "outlet_licensing", "tactics": [ "outlet_licensing" ], "leader_slug": "recep-tayyip-erdogan", "leader_name": "Recep Tayyip Erdoğan", "issue_of_the_day": "The failed July 15, 2016 coup attempt against President Erdogan's government and the mass arrests and dismissals that followed against alleged participants and sympathizers.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2016-12-31", "outcome_note": "Most closures were not reversed by the decrees themselves; Human Rights Watch documented that the closures reached opposition and Kurdish-audience outlets beyond any shown Gulen movement link.", "stage": "silence", "ladder_note": null, "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": "2010s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "After a failed July 2016 coup attempt, Turkey's government closed more than 100 newspapers, television and radio stations, news agencies and publishing houses by state-of-emergency decree, citing alleged links to the movement it blamed for the coup.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2016-turkey-post-coup-media-closures" }, { "slug": "2007-venezuela-rctv-license-not-renewed", "title": "Venezuela: the government declines to renew RCTV's broadcast concession", "occurred_on": "2007-05-27", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "VE", "country_name": "Venezuela", "continent": "south-america", "jurisdiction": "VE", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "outlet_licensing", "tactics": [ "outlet_licensing" ], "leader_slug": "hugo-chavez", "leader_name": "Hugo Chavez", "issue_of_the_day": "President Hugo Chavez's government accused RCTV of supporting the failed April 2002 coup attempt against him, an accusation the government cited alongside the concession's scheduled expiration.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2015-09-08", "outcome_note": "A regional human rights court found in 2015 that the 2007 non-renewal violated free expression, but the source reviewed does not report RCTV's return to open-signal broadcasting.", "stage": "silence", "ladder_note": "The country's most-watched television channel lost its national broadcast concession entirely, later found by an international court to have been aimed at ending its critical coverage.", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 159, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 159th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "era": "2000s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "Venezuela's government let Radio Caracas Television's twenty-year broadcast concession expire rather than renew it, replacing the country's most-watched channel with a new state broadcaster; a regional human rights court later found the decision violated free expression.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2007-venezuela-rctv-license-not-renewed" }, { "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" } ], "downloads": { "csv": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents?tactic=outlet_licensing&stage=silence&outcome=sustained&format=csv", "json": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents.json?tactic=outlet_licensing&stage=silence&outcome=sustained", "md": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents.md?tactic=outlet_licensing&stage=silence&outcome=sustained" }, "license": { "name": "CC BY 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" } }