{ "title": "Incidents: credential control", "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents?tactic=credential_control", "filters": { "tactic": "credential_control" }, "sort": "date", "count": 9, "page": 1, "pages": 1, "per_page": 50, "facets": { "country": [ { "value": "US", "label": "United States", "count": 6 }, { "value": "CN", "label": "China", "count": 1 }, { "value": "ES", "label": "Spain", "count": 1 }, { "value": "DE", "label": "Germany", "count": 1 } ], "continent": [ { "value": "north-america", "label": "North America", "count": 6 }, { "value": "europe", "label": "Europe", "count": 2 }, { "value": "asia", "label": "Asia", "count": 1 } ], "tactic": [ { "value": "credential_control", "label": "Credential control", "count": 9 }, { "value": "access_ban", "label": "Access bans", "count": 6 }, { "value": "prior_restraint", "label": "Prior restraint", "count": 2 }, { "value": "expulsion_and_visa_denial", "label": "Expulsion and visa denial", "count": 1 }, { "value": "insult_and_defamation_laws", "label": "Insult and defamation laws", "count": 1 }, { "value": "outlet_licensing", "label": "Licensing and closure of outlets", "count": 1 } ], "level": [ { "value": "national", "label": "National", "count": 9 } ], "outcome": [ { "value": "reversed", "label": "Reversed", "count": 4 }, { "value": "ongoing", "label": "Ongoing", "count": 3 }, { "value": "sustained", "label": "Sustained", "count": 2 } ], "leader": [ { "value": "donald-trump", "label": "Donald Trump", "count": 6 }, { "value": "xi-jinping", "label": "Xi Jinping", "count": 1 }, { "value": "francisco-franco", "label": "Francisco Franco", "count": 1 }, { "value": "adolf-hitler", "label": "Adolf Hitler", "count": 1 } ], "era": [ { "value": "2020s", "label": "2020s", "count": 5 }, { "value": "2010s", "label": "2010s", "count": 2 }, { "value": "1930s", "label": "1930s", "count": 2 } ], "year": [ { "value": "1933", "label": "1933", "count": 1 }, { "value": "1938", "label": "1938", "count": 1 }, { "value": "2018", "label": "2018", "count": 2 }, { "value": "2020", "label": "2020", "count": 1 }, { "value": "2025", "label": "2025", "count": 3 }, { "value": "2026", "label": "2026", "count": 1 } ], "has_case": [ { "value": "0", "label": "without a court case", "count": 7 }, { "value": "1", "label": "with a court case", "count": 2 } ] }, "results": [ { "slug": "2026-white-house-bans-cnn-msnow-politico", "title": "United States: White House hard-pass deactivations for CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters, September 2026", "occurred_on": "2026-09-18", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "access_ban", "tactics": [ "access_ban", "credential_control" ], "leader_slug": "donald-trump", "leader_name": "Donald Trump", "issue_of_the_day": null, "outcome": "ongoing", "outcome_on": "2026-09-21", "outcome_note": "Cable News Network, Inc. v. Trump (D.D.C. No. 1:26-cv-03287) was filed on 2026-09-21 and is pending; a hearing is scheduled for 2026-09-23.", "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 2, "summary": "On September 18, 2026, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, announced on Truth Social, a social media platform, and in the Oval Office that CNN, MS NOW and Politico would be banned from the White House, the president's office and residence in Washington, D.C. He described the outlets' coverage as \"FICTION and LIES.\" On September 19, 2026, the outlets' reporters were denied entry at the White House gates after their hard passes, the standing credentials that let reporters enter the White House press area without applying each day, were deactivated. The outlets sued on September 21, 2026, and the case is pending as of 2026-09-22.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2026-white-house-bans-cnn-msnow-politico" }, { "slug": "2025-pentagon-press-corps-forfeits-badges", "title": "United States: News organizations turn in their Pentagon press credentials, October 2025", "occurred_on": "2025-10-15", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "credential_control", "tactics": [ "access_ban", "credential_control" ], "leader_slug": "donald-trump", "leader_name": "Donald Trump", "issue_of_the_day": null, "outcome": "ongoing", "outcome_on": "2026-04-09", "outcome_note": "Credentials were ordered restored for seven New York Times journalists on 2026-03-20; the ruling against the revised policy on 2026-04-09 is on appeal. Most other outlets remain outside the building.", "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "Beginning on October 15, 2025, reporters from at least 30 news organizations vacated the press workspace at the Pentagon, the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, rather than sign the department's new credential pledge, with a deadline of October 17 to remove their belongings. They included ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, Fox News, CNN, the Associated Press, Reuters, Bloomberg News, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, NPR and Politico. One America News Network said it would sign. As of 2026-09-22, most of these outlets cover the Pentagon from outside the building.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-pentagon-press-corps-forfeits-badges" }, { "slug": "2025-pentagon-issues-new-press-credentialing-rules", "title": "United States: Department of Defense press credential rules requiring approval before release of information, September 2025", "occurred_on": "2025-09-19", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "credential_control", "tactics": [ "access_ban", "credential_control", "prior_restraint" ], "leader_slug": "donald-trump", "leader_name": "Donald Trump", "issue_of_the_day": null, "outcome": "ongoing", "outcome_on": "2026-04-09", "outcome_note": "Judge Paul Friedman ruled against the credential-revocation provisions on 2026-03-20 and against the revised policy on 2026-04-09; the Department of Defense appealed.", "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "On September 21, 2025, the United States Department of Defense, the federal department that provides the country's military forces, issued new credential rules for reporters at the Pentagon, its headquarters building, under the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. The rules require that information be approved for public release by an authorizing official \"before it is released, even if it is unclassified,\" and require accredited reporters to pledge not to solicit or publish such information without approval or lose their badges. The Pentagon called the rules \"an important step in preventing leaks that damage operational security and national security.\" A federal judge ruled against the rules in March and April 2026, and the department has appealed (as of 2026-09-22).", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-pentagon-issues-new-press-credentialing-rules" }, { "slug": "2025-whca-loses-control-of-press-pool", "title": "United States: White House takes over selection of the presidential press pool, February 2025", "occurred_on": "2025-02-25", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "access_ban", "tactics": [ "access_ban", "credential_control" ], "leader_slug": "donald-trump", "leader_name": "Donald Trump", "issue_of_the_day": null, "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2026-09-22", "outcome_note": "The White House selects the pool as of 2026-09-22, according to the Associated Press (s104).", "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "On February 25, 2025, the White House announced that it would decide which journalists join the press pool, the small rotating group of reporters who cover the president of the United States in spaces such as the Oval Office and Air Force One and share what they gather with other outlets. The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA), the organization of reporters who cover the president, said that for more than a century \"working journalists\" and \"not government officials\" had \"determined pool rotation procedures.\" As of 2026-09-22, the White House selects the pool, according to the Associated Press.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-whca-loses-control-of-press-pool" }, { "slug": "2020-china-expels-us-newspaper-journalists", "title": "China expels American journalists from three major U.S. newspapers", "occurred_on": "2020-03-17", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "CN", "country_name": "China", "continent": "asia", "jurisdiction": "CN", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "expulsion_and_visa_denial", "tactics": [ "credential_control", "expulsion_and_visa_denial" ], "leader_slug": "xi-jinping", "leader_name": "Xi Jinping", "issue_of_the_day": "The expulsions followed a rapid exchange of measures: a Wall Street Journal opinion piece China objected to, the U.S. capping Chinese state-media staff, and China's decision to expel American reporters from three outlets in response, all unfolding as the coronavirus pandemic was spreading globally.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": null, "outcome_note": "The expelled journalists' press credentials were not restored; reciprocal media restrictions between the two countries continued for years afterward.", "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "China ordered American correspondents for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post to leave the country, in a reciprocal response to the Trump administration capping the number of Chinese state-media employees allowed in the United States, which itself followed China's earlier expulsion of three Journal reporters over an opinion headline.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2020-china-expels-us-newspaper-journalists" }, { "slug": "2018-us-cnn-acosta-credential-revoked", "title": "White House revokes CNN correspondent Jim Acosta's press credential after a news conference exchange with President Trump", "occurred_on": "2018-11-07", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "credential_control", "tactics": [ "access_ban", "credential_control" ], "leader_slug": "donald-trump", "leader_name": "Donald Trump", "issue_of_the_day": "President Trump's characterization of a migrant caravan approaching the United States border in the days before the November 2018 midterm election.", "outcome": "reversed", "outcome_on": "2018-11-19", "outcome_note": "A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order on November 16, 2018, and the White House permanently restored Acosta's credential three days later rather than continue the lawsuit.", "era": "2010s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "After CNN's Jim Acosta questioned President Trump at a news conference and briefly kept hold of a microphone as an intern reached for it, the White House suspended his hard pass, the standing credential letting reporters enter the grounds; a federal judge ordered it restored a week later.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2018-us-cnn-acosta-credential-revoked" }, { "slug": "2018-white-house-revokes-acosta-press-pass", "title": "United States: White House suspension of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta's hard pass, November 2018", "occurred_on": "2018-11-07", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "credential_control", "tactics": [ "access_ban", "credential_control" ], "leader_slug": "donald-trump", "leader_name": "Donald Trump", "issue_of_the_day": "An exchange between Acosta and Trump at a White House news conference on November 7, 2018, after the United States midterm elections.", "outcome": "reversed", "outcome_on": "2018-11-19", "outcome_note": "A temporary restraining order of 2018-11-16 required reinstatement; the White House restored the pass on 2018-11-19 and CNN dropped the suit.", "era": "2010s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 2, "summary": "On November 7, 2018, the White House suspended the hard pass of CNN's White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, after what Gulf News called a \"heated confrontation\" between Acosta and the president of the United States, Donald Trump, at a news conference after the country's midterm elections. A hard pass is the standing credential that lets a reporter enter the White House press area without applying each day. On November 16, 2018, a federal judge granted CNN a temporary restraining order requiring the pass to be reinstated, and the White House restored it on November 19, 2018, after which CNN dropped its lawsuit.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2018-white-house-revokes-acosta-press-pass" }, { "slug": "1938-spain-franco-press-law", "title": "Franco's Spain requires state permission to be a journalist under a wartime Press Law", "occurred_on": "1938-04-01", "occurred_on_precision": "month", "country": "ES", "country_name": "Spain", "continent": "europe", "jurisdiction": "ES", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "credential_control", "tactics": [ "credential_control", "insult_and_defamation_laws", "prior_restraint" ], "leader_slug": "francisco-franco", "leader_name": "Francisco Franco", "issue_of_the_day": "Franco's Nationalist forces were still fighting Spain's civil war in April 1938 and used the new Press Law to consolidate direct control over which newspapers could exist and who could work as a journalist within them.", "outcome": "reversed", "outcome_on": "1977-04-01", "outcome_note": "Spain abolished prior press press controls by decree in April 1977, after Franco's 1975 death, ahead of the 1978 constitution that guaranteed freedom of the press.", "era": "1930s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "While Spain's civil war continued, the Nationalist government led by Francisco Franco enacted a Press Law in April 1938 requiring government permission to found a newspaper, work as a journalist or direct a paper, alongside continued pre-publication press controls and years-long prison terms for vaguely defined offenses.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1938-spain-franco-press-law" }, { "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.", "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" } ], "downloads": { "csv": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents?tactic=credential_control&format=csv", "json": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents.json?tactic=credential_control", "md": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents.md?tactic=credential_control" }, "license": { "name": "CC BY 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" } }