The record
Incidents: licensing and closure of outlets in Europe
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
Slovakia's parliament dissolves public broadcaster RTVS, replaces it with STVR
Slovakia's parliament, controlled by Prime Minister Robert Fico's coalition, dissolved public broadcaster RTVS and replaced it with a new entity, STVR, whose director is now chosen through a process giving parliament and the culture minist…
Licensing and closure of outlets · Stage Pressure · Head of government Robert Fico · Sustained
Russia: a Moscow court suspends Novaya Gazeta's print license
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.
Licensing and closure of outlets · Stage Silence · Head of government Vladimir Putin · Sustained
Hungary: Klubradio loses its terrestrial broadcast license over its tender application
Hungary's Media Council ended Klubradio's decades-old terrestrial broadcast license, citing errors in its renewal application, after the station had built a following as one of the country's few remaining independent voices.
Licensing and closure of outlets · Stage Silence · Head of government Viktor Orban · Upheld by a court
Hungary's parliament gives a government-appointed media council power to fine outlets for unbalanced coverage
Hungary's parliament, controlled by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party, passed a media law creating a government-appointed National Media and Infocommunications Authority empowered to fine any outlet, print, broadcast or online, fo…
Funding and ownership pressure · Stage Pressure · Head of government Viktor Orban · Sustained
State-controlled Gazprom takes formal control of Russia's independent NTV television network
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…
Funding and ownership pressure · Stage Silence · Head of government Vladimir Putin · Sustained
United Kingdom bars broadcasters from airing Sinn Féin members' own voices
Home Secretary Douglas Hurd directed British broadcasters in October 1988 not to air the voices of representatives of Sinn Féin, a party linked to the Irish Republican Army, and other groups linked to violence in Northern Ireland. Broadcas…
Licensing and closure of outlets · Stage Silence · Head of government Margaret Thatcher · Reversed
Greece: collaborationist government creates a Directorate-General for Press and Radio to review films and publications before release
The collaborationist government installed in occupied Greece created a Directorate-General for Press and Radio to take over and expand the prior review powers of the prewar Metaxas dictatorship, requiring official permission before films,…
Prior restraint · Stage Silence · Head of government Georgios Tsolakoglou · Sustained
Nazi Germany's Editors Law bars Jewish journalists, 1933
In 1933, Germany's Editors Law (Schriftleitergesetz) required journalists to register with a new state-controlled Reich Press Chamber and barred non-Aryans from the profession. Passed nine months after Adolf Hitler became chancellor, it al…
Credential control · Stage Silence · Head of government Adolf Hitler · Reversed
Germany: Reichstag Fire Decree suspends freedom of the press, February 1933
Weeks after Adolf Hitler became German chancellor, the government used a fire that heavily damaged the Reichstag building to obtain President Paul von Hindenburg's approval for a decree suspending the constitutional guarantee of freedom of…
Licensing and closure of outlets · Stage Silence · Head of government Adolf Hitler · Sustained
Glavlit created: Soviet censorship office, 1922
In 1922, Soviet Russia created Glavlit, a single agency that reviewed newspapers, books, plays and even posters before they could be printed or performed. It was set up under Vladimir Lenin's government with final authority over what could…
Prior restraint · Stage Silence · Head of government Vladimir Lenin · Ongoing
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