The record
Incidents, national level, outcome ongoing
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
United States: White House hard-pass deactivations for CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters, September 2026
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…
Access bans · Stage Restrict · Head of government Donald Trump · Ongoing
Kazakhstan: fabricated copyright complaints used against journalists
An investigation found paid services in Kazakhstan filing fabricated copyright complaints, impersonating global brands, to get social media platforms to remove journalists' accounts and posts, alongside criminal prosecutions of the press.
Lawsuits against the press · Stage Pressure · Head of government Kassym-Jomart Tokayev · Ongoing
Appeals court orders FCC to respond to challenge over 'news distortion' policy
A bipartisan group of former Federal Communications Commission chairs, commissioners and the Radio Television Digital News Association petitioned a federal appeals court to force the FCC to act on a long-pending request to rescind its deca…
Funding and ownership pressure · Stage Pressure · Head of government Donald Trump · Ongoing
United States: News organizations turn in their Pentagon press credentials, October 2025
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,…
Credential control · Stage Restrict · Head of government Donald Trump · Ongoing
United States: Department of Defense press credential rules requiring approval before release of information, September 2025
On September 19, 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 o…
Credential control · Stage Restrict · Head of government Donald Trump · Ongoing
Trump files, then refiles, $15 billion defamation suit against the New York Times
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 Tru…
Lawsuits against the press · Stage Pressure · Head of government Donald Trump · 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
Ethiopia arrests at least six journalists including Sheger FM staff over election-year coverage
Ethiopian authorities arrested at least six journalists between August and September 2025, including three from Sheger FM after the Ethiopian Media Authority ordered the station to delete a broadcast it accused of bias and inciting violenc…
Detention and violence · Stage Punish · Head of government Abiy Ahmed · Ongoing
Trump sues Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch over Epstein birthday letter story
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 albu…
Lawsuits against the press · Stage Pressure · Head of government Donald Trump · Ongoing
United States: U.S. Agency for Global Media action to shut down Voice of America operations, March 2025
Beginning on March 15, 2025, the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the United States federal agency that oversees the government's international broadcasters, placed most of its staff on paid administrative leave and moved to shut down…
Funding and ownership pressure · Stage Silence · Head of government Donald Trump · Ongoing
United States: White House exclusion of the Associated Press from the Oval Office and Air Force One, February 2025
On February 11, 2025, the White House, the office of the president of the United States, began barring journalists from the Associated Press (AP), a United States news agency, from the Oval Office and Air Force One, the aircraft that carri…
Access bans · Stage Restrict · Head of government Donald Trump · Ongoing
Journalists beaten in Bangladesh in separate incidents as interim government drafts new cyber laws
On a single day in February 2025, groups of men beat at least eight journalists in two separate incidents in rural Bangladesh while they investigated a medical-negligence tip and a land dispute; the incidents came as the interim government…
Detention and violence · Stage Punish · Head of government Muhammad Yunus · Ongoing
FCC chair reopens 'news distortion' complaints against CBS and NBC
Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr reopened complaints alleging CBS and NBC distorted the news, demanding CBS turn over the full tape and transcript of a 60 Minutes interview and later accusing NBC's parent Comcast of mis…
Funding and ownership pressure · Stage Pressure · Head of government Donald Trump · Ongoing
Trump sues Des Moines Register and pollster Ann Selzer over final Iowa poll
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 q…
Lawsuits against the press · Stage Pressure · Head of government Donald Trump · Ongoing
China: editor Dong Yuyu is sentenced to seven years for espionage over meals with a diplomat
A Chinese court sentenced Guangming Daily editor and columnist Dong Yuyu to seven years in prison for espionage after his 2022 arrest while having lunch with a Japanese diplomat, a case his son called purely political.
Secrets and espionage laws · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Xi Jinping · Ongoing
Kazakhstan: new accreditation rules let officials withdraw a journalist's pass for off-topic questions
Kazakhstan's government adopted rules allowing journalists' accreditation to be withdrawn for six months over conduct at a news event, including asking off-topic questions, while proposing separate rules letting the foreign ministry deny f…
Credential control · Stage Punish · Head of government Kassym-Jomart Tokayev · Ongoing
Iran: journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi are sentenced to 13 and 12 years
Iranian journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, who broke the story of Mahsa Amini's death in police custody, were sentenced to 13 and 12 years respectively on national-security-linked charges tied to their reporting, and later re…
Secrets and espionage laws · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Ebrahim Raisi · Ongoing
Turkish authorities detain three journalists under 'disinformation' law
Turkish authorities detained three journalists, jailing columnist Tolga Sardan pending trial, under a 2022 law criminalizing the spread of disinformation, after the government's own disinformation-fighting body disputed their reporting on…
Insult and defamation laws · Stage Punish · Head of government Recep Tayyip Erdoğan · Ongoing
Guatemala convicts investigative journalist Jose Ruben Zamora on money-laundering charge
A Guatemalan court convicted El Periodico founder Jose Ruben Zamora of money laundering and sentenced him to six years in prison, months after his newspaper, known for investigating government corruption, was forced to close; press-freedom…
Detention and violence · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Alejandro Giammattei · Ongoing
Russia: journalist Ivan Safronov is sentenced to 22 years for treason
A Russian court sentenced military correspondent Ivan Safronov to 22 years in prison for treason, accusing him of spying for a foreign state, in a case his supporters linked to his 2019 reporting on Russian arms sales to Egypt.
Secrets and espionage laws · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Vladimir Putin · Ongoing
Turkiye: journalist Sedef Kabas is arrested for a proverb about President Erdogan
Turkish journalist Sedef Kabas was arrested and later convicted under Article 299 of the penal code, which criminalizes insulting the president, after quoting a proverb about a palace becoming a stable during a televised discussion of Erdo…
Insult and defamation laws · Stage Punish · Head of government Recep Tayyip Erdoğan · Ongoing
Turkiye: journalist Sedef Kabas tried for insulting the president
Turkish authorities tried journalist Sedef Kabas repeatedly for insulting President Erdogan over her on-air comments and tweets questioning his college diploma and alleging corruption, an offense carrying up to four years in prison.
Lawsuits against the press · Stage Punish · Head of government Recep Tayyip Erdoğan · Ongoing
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
Myanmar: military cuts mobile internet after seizing power
After seizing power on February 1, 2021, Myanmar's military cut mobile data service nationwide, leaving reporters in rural townships and Rakhine State unable to send news and blocking large areas from outside communication for months.
Shutdowns and blocking · Stage Silence · Head of government Min Aung Hlaing · Ongoing
Philippines: Maria Ressa convicted of cyber libel
A Manila court convicted Rappler's Maria Ressa and researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr. of criminal cyber libel and sentenced them to up to six years in prison, over a 2012 story republished after the cybercrime law used to charge them took effe…
Lawsuits against the press · Stage Punish · Head of government Rodrigo Duterte · Ongoing
China: citizen journalist Zhang Zhan imprisoned for Wuhan reporting
China detained citizen journalist Zhang Zhan for posting independent video reports from Wuhan during the early COVID-19 outbreak, later convicting her of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" and, after her release, detaining her again…
Detention and violence · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Xi Jinping · Ongoing
India imposes a communications blackout in Jammu and Kashmir after revoking the region's special status
As it revoked Jammu and Kashmir's constitutional autonomy, India's government cut broadband, mobile internet, text messaging and phone service across the region, leaving local journalists unable to file stories, verify information or commu…
Shutdowns and blocking · Stage Silence · Head of government Narendra Modi · Ongoing
Russia: outlet fined $338,000 under the foreign agents law
A Moscow court fined the magazine The New Times 22.3 million rubles, about $338,000, for a paperwork lapse under Russia's foreign agents law, a sum its editor said was designed to force the outlet to close.
Lawsuits against the press · Stage Pressure · Head of government Vladimir Putin · Ongoing
Egypt: a license requirement leaves an independent news site unable to operate legally for years
Egypt's Supreme Council for Media Regulation required news websites to obtain a government license to operate, and independent outlet Al-Manassa's application, filed in 2018, went unanswered for more than two years.
Prior restraint · Stage Pressure · Head of government Abdel Fattah el-Sisi · Ongoing
Venezuela expels or denies entry to dozens of foreign journalists covering anti-government protests
During 2016 to 2018 protests against President Nicolas Maduro's government, Venezuelan authorities expelled, deported or denied entry to dozens of foreign correspondents, most citing bureaucratic pretexts such as visa irregularities rather…
Expulsion and visa denial · Stage Punish · Head of government Nicolas Maduro · Ongoing
Eritrea: independent press closed and journalists jailed without trial
Eritrea's government closed every private newspaper and jailed at least nineteen journalists, including Dawit Isaac of the paper Setit, without charge or trial in September 2001, after suspending the constitution. Several have never been p…
Detention and violence · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Isaias Afwerki · Ongoing
Burma's new military government tightens pre-publication press controls after seizing power
After crushing the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, Burma's new military government, the State Law and Order Restoration Council, tightened an existing pre-publication press controls board and raised penalties for unauthorized publishing to se…
Prior restraint · Stage Silence · Head of government Saw Maung · Ongoing
Egypt's Nasser government nationalizes every newspaper and magazine in the country
President Gamal Abdel Nasser's government issued a decree on May 24, 1960 placing every newspaper and magazine in Egypt under state ownership and management, with the government appointing editors and deciding content, ending private contr…
Funding and ownership pressure · Stage Silence · Head of government Gamal Abdel Nasser · Ongoing
Israel retains a British-era law giving the military the power to review and restrict the press
When Israel declared independence in 1948 under Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, it retained a British Mandate-era Press Ordinance giving the military the power to review and restrict publications on security grounds, later formalized thro…
Prior restraint · Stage Silence · Head of government David Ben-Gurion · Ongoing
Soviet Russia creates Glavlit, a central office to review all printed material before publication
In 1922, under Vladimir Lenin's government, Soviet Russia created Glavlit, a single agency with final authority to review newspapers, books, plays and even posters before they could be printed or performed. By 1930 no publication in the So…
Prior restraint · Stage Silence · Head of government Vladimir Lenin · Ongoing
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