{
  "title": "Incidents: lawsuits against the press",
  "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents?tactic=lawsuits_against_press",
  "filters": {
    "tactic": "lawsuits_against_press"
  },
  "sort": "date",
  "count": 5,
  "page": 1,
  "pages": 1,
  "per_page": 50,
  "facets": {
    "country": [
      {
        "value": "US",
        "label": "United States",
        "count": 5
      }
    ],
    "continent": [
      {
        "value": "north-america",
        "label": "North America",
        "count": 5
      }
    ],
    "tactic": [
      {
        "value": "lawsuits_against_press",
        "label": "Lawsuits against the press",
        "count": 5
      },
      {
        "value": "funding_and_ownership_pressure",
        "label": "Funding and ownership pressure",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "level": [
      {
        "value": "national",
        "label": "National",
        "count": 5
      }
    ],
    "outcome": [
      {
        "value": "ongoing",
        "label": "Ongoing",
        "count": 3
      },
      {
        "value": "sustained",
        "label": "Sustained",
        "count": 2
      }
    ],
    "leader": [
      {
        "value": "donald-trump",
        "label": "Donald Trump",
        "count": 5
      }
    ],
    "era": [
      {
        "value": "2020s",
        "label": "2020s",
        "count": 5
      }
    ],
    "year": [
      {
        "value": "2024",
        "label": "2024",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "2025",
        "label": "2025",
        "count": 4
      }
    ],
    "has_case": [
      {
        "value": "0",
        "label": "without a court case",
        "count": 5
      }
    ]
  },
  "results": [
    {
      "slug": "2025-trump-sues-new-york-times-15-billion",
      "title": "Trump files, then refiles, $15 billion defamation suit against the New York Times",
      "occurred_on": "2025-09-16",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "US",
      "country_name": "United States",
      "continent": "north-america",
      "jurisdiction": "US",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "lawsuits_against_press",
      "tactics": [
        "lawsuits_against_press"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "donald-trump",
      "leader_name": "Donald Trump",
      "issue_of_the_day": "The suit named Times articles and a book published in the run-up to the 2024 election, including reporting referencing a note Trump was said to have given Jeffrey Epstein, and the paper's endorsement of Kamala Harris.",
      "outcome": "ongoing",
      "outcome_on": "2025-10-16",
      "outcome_note": "A judge dismissed the original complaint for violating pleading rules; Trump refiled a shortened, six-claim complaint in October 2025.",
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "in_effect",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "President Trump sued The New York Times and four of its journalists for $15 billion over articles and a book published before the 2024 election; a judge dismissed the sprawling original complaint for violating basic pleading rules, and Trump refiled a shorter version a month later.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-trump-sues-new-york-times-15-billion"
    },
    {
      "slug": "2025-trump-sues-wall-street-journal-epstein-letter",
      "title": "Trump sues Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch over Epstein birthday letter story",
      "occurred_on": "2025-07-18",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "US",
      "country_name": "United States",
      "continent": "north-america",
      "jurisdiction": "US",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "lawsuits_against_press",
      "tactics": [
        "lawsuits_against_press"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "donald-trump",
      "leader_name": "Donald Trump",
      "issue_of_the_day": "The Journal had reported on a letter, bearing Trump's name and an outline of a naked woman, compiled into a birthday album for Jeffrey Epstein in 2003; the story renewed scrutiny of Trump's past relationship with Epstein.",
      "outcome": "ongoing",
      "outcome_on": null,
      "outcome_note": "Dow Jones moved to dismiss the suit in September 2025, arguing the reporting was true; the case remained in litigation.",
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "in_effect",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "President Trump sued The Wall Street Journal, its owner Rupert Murdoch and two reporters for at least $10 billion, disputing the newspaper's report describing a bawdy letter he was said to have sent Jeffrey Epstein for a 2003 birthday album.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-trump-sues-wall-street-journal-epstein-letter"
    },
    {
      "slug": "2025-paramount-cbs-settle-60-minutes-suit",
      "title": "United States: Paramount settlement of Donald Trump's lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview, July 2025",
      "occurred_on": "2025-07-01",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "US",
      "country_name": "United States",
      "continent": "north-america",
      "jurisdiction": "US",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "lawsuits_against_press",
      "tactics": [
        "lawsuits_against_press"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "donald-trump",
      "leader_name": "Donald Trump",
      "issue_of_the_day": "60 Minutes' editing of a 2024 interview with Kamala Harris, then vice-president of the United States.",
      "outcome": "sustained",
      "outcome_on": "2025-07-01",
      "outcome_note": "Settled on 2025-07-01: US$16 million to Trump's future presidential library and the plaintiffs' fees and costs; 60 Minutes to release transcripts of presidential-candidate interviews. The outcome enum has no value for a settlement; \"sustained\" records that the settlement terms stand.",
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "in_effect",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "On July 1, 2025, Paramount, the parent company of the United States broadcaster CBS News, announced that it would settle for US$16 million a lawsuit brought by Donald Trump, the president of the United States, over how the CBS program 60 Minutes edited a 2024 interview with Kamala Harris, then vice-president. The money goes to Trump's future presidential library and the plaintiffs' fees and costs, and 60 Minutes will release transcripts of future interviews with presidential candidates, \"subject to redactions as required for legal or national security concerns.\" Paramount \"has maintained that the lawsuit was completely without merit,\" according to CBS News.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-paramount-cbs-settle-60-minutes-suit"
    },
    {
      "slug": "2025-60-minutes-producer-owens-resigns-loss-of-independence",
      "title": "60 Minutes executive producer resigns, citing lost editorial independence",
      "occurred_on": "2025-04-22",
      "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",
        "lawsuits_against_press"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "donald-trump",
      "leader_name": "Donald Trump",
      "issue_of_the_day": "Paramount was defending CBS against Trump's lawsuit over 60 Minutes' editing of a Kamala Harris interview while seeking Federal Communications Commission approval to sell the company to Skydance, a deal Trump's approval-holding regulator could delay or block.",
      "outcome": "sustained",
      "outcome_on": "2025-04-22",
      "outcome_note": "Owens's resignation was not reversed; the program continued under Paramount's new oversight amid the pending settlement and merger.",
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "in_effect",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens resigned, saying corporate owner Paramount had begun supervising the program's content in new ways while it faced President Trump's lawsuit over a Harris interview and pursued a sale requiring federal approval; the program publicly said on air that it had lost the independence it once had.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-60-minutes-producer-owens-resigns-loss-of-independence"
    },
    {
      "slug": "2024-trump-sues-des-moines-register-selzer-poll",
      "title": "Trump sues Des Moines Register and pollster Ann Selzer over final Iowa poll",
      "occurred_on": "2024-12-16",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "US",
      "country_name": "United States",
      "continent": "north-america",
      "jurisdiction": "US-IA",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "lawsuits_against_press",
      "tactics": [
        "lawsuits_against_press"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "donald-trump",
      "leader_name": "Donald Trump",
      "issue_of_the_day": "Selzer's final Iowa poll, published days before the November 2024 election, showed Harris leading in a state Trump went on to win by more than ten points, prompting Trump to call the poll itself a form of election interference.",
      "outcome": "ongoing",
      "outcome_on": "2026-07-10",
      "outcome_note": "The judge said allowing the suit to proceed could broadly discourage election polling and reporting; a ruling on dismissal was pending.",
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "in_effect",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "President-elect Trump sued the Des Moines Register and longtime pollster Ann Selzer under Iowa's consumer fraud law over her final pre-election poll, which showed Kamala Harris ahead in Iowa days before Trump won the state; a judge later questioned whether the case could proceed without discouraging election reporting.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2024-trump-sues-des-moines-register-selzer-poll"
    }
  ],
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  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
  }
}