The record
Incidents in the United States, outcome reversed
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
Customs officers seize Grayzone editor's phones at Virginia airport over Iran reporting
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers stopped Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal at Washington Dulles Airport, questioned him about his reporting trips to Iran, and seized both of his phones without his consent; the phones were returned…
Surveillance and subpoenas · Stage Punish · Head of government Donald Trump · Reversed
United States: Federal Communications Commission chairman's remarks and the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, September 2025
On September 17, 2025, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the United States regulator of broadcasting, Brendan Carr, said broadcasters could "do this the easy way or the hard way" over remarks by the television ho…
Funding and ownership pressure · Stage Pressure · Head of government Donald Trump · Reversed
Police raid Marion County Record newsroom and publisher's home in Kansas
Police in Marion, Kansas, led by Chief Gideon Cody, raided the Marion County Record's newsroom and publisher Eric Meyer's home, seizing computers, phones and files, on a warrant tied to an identity-theft investigation. The paper's 98-year-…
Surveillance and subpoenas · Stage Punish · Head of government Laura Kelly · Reversed
Federal court strikes down Arizona's law banning recording police within 8 feet
Arizona's 2022 law making it a crime to record police within eight feet after a warning was struck down by a federal judge in July 2023, who found it chilled a substantial amount of activity protected by the First Amendment and was not nec…
Access bans · Stage Restrict · Head of government Doug Ducey · Reversed
Justice Department bars seizing reporters' phone and email records
After it came to light that the Trump-era Justice Department had secretly obtained the phone and email records of reporters at The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a policy barring prosec…
Surveillance and subpoenas · Stage Punish · Head of government Joe Biden · Reversed
Federal officers restrict press access to Portland protests; judge orders them to stop
After federal officers deployed to Portland used tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets on journalists and legal observers covering protests, the American Civil Liberties Union sued, and a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction b…
Access bans · Stage Punish · Head of government Donald Trump · Reversed
Minnesota State Patrol arrests CNN crew live on air in Minneapolis
Minnesota State Patrol troopers arrested CNN correspondent Omar Jimenez and his crew on live television while they covered protests after the police killing of George Floyd. Officers gave no reason before handcuffing the three men; Governo…
Detention and violence · Stage Punish · Head of government Tim Walz · Reversed
United States indicts WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange under the Espionage Act
The United States indicted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on 17 counts under the Espionage Act over the 2010 publication of leaked military and diplomatic files, charges press-freedom groups said could expose ordinary national-security j…
Secrets and espionage laws · Stage Punish · Head of government Donald Trump · Reversed
White House revokes CNN correspondent Jim Acosta's press credential after a news conference exchange with President Trump
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;…
Credential control · Stage Restrict · Head of government Donald Trump · Reversed
United States: White House suspension of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta's hard pass, November 2018
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 new…
Credential control · Stage Restrict · Head of government Donald Trump · Reversed
United States pursues New York Times reporter James Risen's testimony for years before dropping its demand for his source
For years, federal prosecutors sought New York Times reporter James Risen's testimony identifying a confidential source in a CIA leak case; the Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal, but Attorney General Eric Holder ultimately chose no…
Surveillance and subpoenas · Stage Punish · Head of government Barack Obama · Reversed
United States charges Army analyst Chelsea Manning under the Espionage Act for leaking to WikiLeaks
The U.S. Army charged intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning under the Espionage Act, a 1917 law against disclosing defense information, after she gave WikiLeaks, a website that publishes leaked documents, a large archive of military and dip…
Secrets and espionage laws · Stage Punish · Head of government Barack Obama · Reversed
United States Supreme Court strikes down Florida law barring a reporter from discussing his own grand jury testimony
In 1990, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down a Florida law that threatened newspaper reporter Michael Smith with criminal prosecution for discussing his own testimony before a state grand jury investigating local officials.…
Secrets and espionage laws · Stage Silence · Head of government Bob Martinez · Reversed
United States military bars journalists from the invasion of Grenada
When United States forces invaded the Caribbean island of Grenada on October 25, 1983, military commanders kept all journalists away from the island for the first two days of fighting, citing operational reasons. Protests from news organiz…
Access bans · Stage Restrict · Head of government Ronald Reagan · Reversed
United States judge bars the press from reporting a murder suspect's confession before trial
On October 27, 1975, Nebraska District Judge Hugh Stuart ordered news organizations covering a mass murder near Sutherland, Nebraska, not to report a suspect's confession or other evidence before jury selection. The Supreme Court of the Un…
Prior restraint · Stage Silence · Head of government J. James Exon · Reversed
Nixon White House compiles an enemies list naming journalists for official pressure
White House Counsel John Dean wrote a memo on how to use federal agencies against President Nixon's political opponents, and the resulting list of more than 200 names included journalists such as CBS News correspondent Daniel Schorr. It be…
Surveillance and subpoenas · Stage Pressure · Head of government Richard Nixon · Reversed
United States government seeks an injunction to stop The New York Times publishing the Pentagon Papers
After The New York Times began publishing a leaked secret history of the Vietnam War, the Nixon administration obtained a court order stopping further publication, the first such order against a major American newspaper. The Supreme Court…
Prior restraint · Stage Silence · Head of government Richard Nixon · Reversed
United States: Texas judge allows televised pretrial hearing in the Billie Sol Estes case; Supreme Court later limits cameras in criminal courtrooms
A Texas state judge in Tyler allowed live television and photography at pretrial hearings and part of the criminal trial of financier Billie Sol Estes, over defense objections. On June 7, 1965, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled…
Access bans · Stage Restrict · Head of government Price Daniel · Reversed
United States: Montgomery, Alabama commissioner sues The New York Times for libel over a civil rights advertisement
L. B. Sullivan, an elected Montgomery, Alabama city commissioner who supervised the police department, sued The New York Times for libel over a 1960 civil rights advertisement and won a $500,000 jury verdict. On March 9, 1964, the Supreme…
Lawsuits against the press · Stage Punish · Head of government John Patterson · Reversed
United States: Justice Department investigates the Chicago Tribune under the Espionage Act over Battle of Midway coverage
The United States Department of Justice convened a federal grand jury to consider Espionage Act charges against the Chicago Tribune and correspondent Stanley Johnston after the newspaper published details suggesting the Navy had broken Jap…
Secrets and espionage laws · Stage Pressure · Head of government Franklin D. Roosevelt · Reversed
United States: Supreme Court strikes down a Georgia city's permit requirement for distributing literature, 1938
The city of Griffin, Georgia, required written permission from the city manager before anyone could distribute pamphlets, circulars or magazines within its limits, treating unlicensed distribution as a punishable nuisance. Alma Lovell was…
Prior restraint · Stage Silence · Head of government Eurith D. Rivers · Reversed
United States: Louisiana taxes large newspapers' advertising revenue; the tax is struck down in Grosjean v. American Press Co.
Louisiana taxed the gross receipts that businesses earned from advertising in newspapers with circulations above 20,000 copies a week, a threshold that caught the state's largest papers. The Supreme Court of the United States ruled unanimo…
Funding and ownership pressure · Stage Pressure · Head of government Oscar K. Allen · Reversed
Minnesota closes The Saturday Press in 1927; the Supreme Court strikes down the law in 1931
A Hennepin County attorney used Minnesota's 1925 Public Nuisance Law to shut down The Saturday Press, a Minneapolis paper accusing officials of corruption. In 1931 the Supreme Court of the United States struck the law down, ruling that sto…
Prior restraint · Stage Silence · Head of government Theodore Christianson · Reversed
United States: President Theodore Roosevelt seeks criminal libel indictments against the New York World and the Indianapolis News over Panama Canal reporting
President Theodore Roosevelt sought federal criminal libel indictments against the publishers of the New York World and the Indianapolis News after they reported that he and other officials had profited from the United States' purchase of…
Insult and defamation laws · Stage Punish · Head of government Theodore Roosevelt · Reversed
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