The record
Incidents in Europe, stage: punish
Each incident is a dated action by a government, an official, a regulator, a court or a legislature that limited journalists' ability to gather or publish news.
The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.
All filters: country, dates, head of government, sort
Hungary: a ruling-party mayor forcibly removes Telex reporters from a campaign event
A mayor from Hungary's ruling Fidesz party physically removed two Telex journalists from a campaign forum in a community center, covering their camera lens and pushing them out after they declined to leave what he called a closed event.
Access bans · Stage Punish · Head of government Viktor Orban · Ongoing
Serbian police strike, detain and disarm journalists covering anti-government protests
The Committee to Protect Journalists documented at least 28 Serbian journalists reporting being struck, detained, sprayed with chemical irritants or having their equipment destroyed by police between June and September 2025 while covering…
Detention and violence · Stage Punish · Head of government Aleksandar Vucic · Ongoing
Russia: entry bans, visa restrictions and bureau closures for foreign correspondents
Over several months in 2022, Russian authorities closed a Canadian broadcaster's Moscow bureau, barred dozens of named British and Australian journalists from entering the country, and suspended simplified visa rules for European journalis…
Access bans · Stage Punish · Head of government Vladimir Putin · Sustained
Russia: CBC/Radio-Canada bureau closed and journalists' visas cancelled
Russian authorities ordered the Canadian broadcaster CBC/Radio-Canada's Moscow bureau closed and cancelled its journalists' visas and accreditation, part of a wave of expulsions and non-renewals of foreign correspondents after the invasion…
Expulsion and visa denial · Stage Punish · Head of government Vladimir Putin · Sustained
Russia criminalizes 'fake' reporting on the military, up to 15 years in prison
Russia's parliament passed a law criminalizing the publication of information about the military that contradicts official statements, with penalties up to 15 years in prison, prompting Novaya Gazeta to pull its Ukraine war coverage and th…
Insult and defamation laws · Stage Punish · Head of government Vladimir Putin · Sustained
Hungary: investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi's phone is infected with Pegasus spyware
Amnesty International found forensic traces of Pegasus spyware on the phone of Direkt36 investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi, who covers Hungarian national security and diplomacy, as part of the wider Pegasus Project investigation.
Surveillance and subpoenas · Stage Punish · Head of government Viktor Orban · Ongoing
Belarus: accreditation withdrawn from 17 journalists working for foreign outlets
Belarus's government revoked the accreditation of at least 17 journalists working for foreign outlets, including the BBC, Reuters, the Associated Press, Radio Liberty, AFP and Deutsche Welle, as they covered protests after a disputed presi…
Access bans · Stage Punish · Head of government Alexander Lukashenko · Sustained
Hungary criminalizes false coronavirus information and grants Orban decree powers
Hungary's parliament passed an emergency coronavirus law allowing prison terms of up to five years for spreading information the government deemed false or distorted about the pandemic, and let Prime Minister Viktor Orban rule by decree fo…
Insult and defamation laws · Stage Punish · Head of government Viktor Orban · Unknown
United Kingdom detains journalist's partner under terrorism law and oversees destruction of Guardian hard drives holding Snowden files
British authorities detained David Miranda, partner of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, for nine hours at Heathrow Airport under anti-terrorism powers, and separately had Guardian staff destroy hard drives holding files leaked by Edwar…
Surveillance and subpoenas · Stage Punish · Head of government David Cameron · Upheld by a court
Serbia's Public Information Act lets courts fine independent newspapers into financial danger
Serbia's parliament passed a Public Information Act allowing courts to levy same-day fines against newspapers for vaguely defined offenses against the state's interests, and independent papers were fined far more often and more heavily tha…
Insult and defamation laws · Stage Punish · Head of government Slobodan Milosevic · Reversed
Belarus jails journalist Pavel Sheremet over his reporting for Russian television station ORT
In 1997, Belarusian authorities under President Alexander Lukashenko jailed journalist Pavel Sheremet for three months in connection with his reporting for the Russian television station ORT. The Committee to Protect Journalists said the s…
Detention and violence · Stage Punish · Head of government Alexander Lukashenko · Sustained
Soviet Union: arrest and seven-week detention of American correspondent Nicholas Daniloff in Moscow, 1986
Soviet authorities arrested Nicholas Daniloff, the Moscow correspondent for U.S. News & World Report, on August 30, 1986, days after the United States arrested a Soviet United Nations employee on espionage charges. Daniloff was held for tw…
Detention and violence · Stage Punish · Head of government Mikhail Gorbachev · Reversed
West Germany: police raid Der Spiegel's offices and arrest its editors over a defense article
On October 26, 1962, West German police raided the offices of the news magazine Der Spiegel and arrested its publisher, Rudolf Augstein, after it reported that the armed forces were only "conditionally prepared" for a nuclear strike. Deput…
Detention and violence · Stage Punish · Head of government Konrad Adenauer · Unknown
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