The War On News

A record of government actions against journalism and fact-based reporting, from the first press laws to today

The record

Incidents, stage: silence, national level

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
CountryArgentina, RSF 2026 rank: 98th of 180Australia, RSF 2026 rank: 33rd of 180Belarus, RSF 2026 rank: 165th of 180Brazil, RSF 2026 rank: 52nd of 180Cambodia, RSF 2026 rank: 151st of 180Canada, RSF 2026 rank: 20th of 180Chile, RSF 2026 rank: 70th of 180Czechia, RSF 2026 rank: 11th of 180Egypt, RSF 2026 rank: 169th of 180Germany, RSF 2026 rank: 14th of 180GreeceHong Kong, RSF 2026 rank: 140th of 180Hungary, RSF 2026 rank: 74th of 180India, RSF 2026 rank: 157th of 180IndonesiaIran, RSF 2026 rank: 177th of 180Israel, RSF 2026 rank: 116th of 180JapanMalaysia, RSF 2026 rank: 95th of 180Myanmar, RSF 2026 rank: 166th of 180Philippines, RSF 2026 rank: 114th of 180Poland, RSF 2026 rank: 27th of 180Portugal, RSF 2026 rank: 10th of 180Russia, RSF 2026 rank: 172nd of 180South Africa, RSF 2026 rank: 21st of 180South Korea, RSF 2026 rank: 47th of 180Spain, RSF 2026 rank: 29th of 180Tanzania, RSF 2026 rank: 117th of 180Türkiye, RSF 2026 rank: 163rd of 180United Kingdom, RSF 2026 rank: 18th of 180United States, RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180Venezuela, RSF 2026 rank: 159th of 180Zimbabwe, RSF 2026 rank: 124th of 180
ContinentAfricaAsiaEuropeNorth AmericaSouth AmericaOceania
TacticLicensing and closure of outlets 27Prior restraint 21Shutdowns and blocking 16Detention and violence 11Funding and ownership pressure 10Secrets and espionage laws 5Access bans 2Credential control 2Insult and defamation laws 1
StageSilence 58
OutcomeSustained 26Reversed 17Ongoing 7Unknown 4Upheld by a court 4
LevelNational 58
Head of governmentAdolf HitlerAlexander DubčekAlexander LukashenkoAndries Cornelis Dirk de GraeffAntónio de Oliveira SalazarArtur da Costa e SilvaAugusto PinochetBalthazar Johannes VorsterBenjamin NetanyahuCarrie LamChun Doo-hwanDaniel François MalanDavid Ben-GurionDonald TrumpEdward HeathFerdinand MarcosFrancisco FrancoFumimaro KonoeGamal Abdel NasserGeorge H. W. BushGeorgios TsolakoglouGetúlio VargasHassan RouhaniHerbert Henry AsquithHugo ChavezHun SenIndira GandhiJavier MileiJohn CurtinJuan PerónMahathir MohamadMargaret ThatcherMateusz MorawieckiMehmed VMin Aung HlaingNarendra ModiP. W. BothaRecep Tayyip ErdoğanRichard NixonRobert MugabeSamia Suluhu HassanSaw MaungViktor OrbanVladimir LeninVladimir PutinWilliam Lyon Mackenzie KingWojciech JaruzelskiWoodrow Wilson

58 incidents match this view. Showing 8 on page 2 of 2.

TableCardsCSVJSONMarkdown
DateIncidentCountryTacticHead of governmentOutcome
28 February 1933Germany: Reichstag Fire Decree suspends freedom of the press, February 1933Germany (RSF 2026 rank: 14th of 180)Licensing and closure of outletsAdolf HitlerSustained (1 May 1945)
1933Portugal's Salazar government formally establishes press controls under a new constitutionPortugal (RSF 2026 rank: 10th of 180)Prior restraintAntónio de Oliveira SalazarReversed (25 April 1974)
1926Dutch East Indies: Colonial authorities end publication of the communist newspaper Mawa under Penal Code Article 153 bis, 1926Indonesia (RSF rank: not recorded)Licensing and closure of outletsAndries Cornelis Dirk de GraeffSustained (1 January 1926)
1922Glavlit created: Soviet censorship office, 1922Russia (RSF 2026 rank: 172nd of 180)Prior restraintVladimir LeninOngoing (1 January 1989)
July 1917United States postmaster bars the magazine The Masses from the mail under the Espionage ActUnited States (RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180)Secrets and espionage lawsWoodrow WilsonUpheld by a court (1 November 1917)
1917United States Postmaster General Burleson strips the Milwaukee Leader of its mailing rateUnited States (RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180)Shutdowns and blockingWoodrow WilsonUpheld by a court (7 March 1921)
27 August 1914Britain's Official Press Bureau controls newspaper coverage of the First World WarUnited Kingdom (RSF 2026 rank: 18th of 180)Prior restraintHerbert Henry AsquithSustained (12 November 1914)
9 March 1913Ottoman Empire bars lawmakers and officials from editing newspapers and jails a leading editorTürkiye (RSF 2026 rank: 163rd of 180)Licensing and closure of outletsMehmed VSustained (9 March 1913)
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