The record
Incidents, stage: punish, outcome sustained
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
Pakistan amends cybercrime law to create new agency policing 'fake' online content
Pakistan's parliament amended the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act to create a new Social Media Protection and Regulatory Authority with power to block online content and a Social Media Protection Tribunal, and made spreading informatio…
Official labels · Stage Punish · Head of government Shehbaz Sharif · Sustained
Tunisia's cybercrime decree pushes jailed-journalist count to highest since 1992
The Committee to Protect Journalists found at least four journalists imprisoned under Tunisia's 2022 Decree-Law 54 on cybercrime as of January 2025, including radio hosts Mourad Zghidi and Borhen Bsaies, pushing the country's jailed-journa…
Insult and defamation laws · Stage Punish · Head of government Kais Saied · Sustained
Venezuela detains, expels and restricts journalists after disputed 2024 election
In the two weeks after Venezuela's disputed July 28, 2024 presidential election, Reporters Without Borders documented 70 press-freedom violations, including nine detentions, nine expulsions of foreign correspondents and the suspension of t…
Detention and violence · Stage Punish · Head of government Nicolas Maduro · Sustained
Zimbabwe's Patriotic Act criminalizes journalists' contact with foreign governments
President Emmerson Mnangagwa signed the Patriotic Act, which criminalizes meeting foreign governments or officials with intent to harm Zimbabwe's sovereignty, with penalties up to death for advocating armed intervention and up to ten years…
Secrets and espionage laws · Stage Punish · Head of government Emmerson Mnangagwa · Sustained
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
Ethiopia: Economist correspondent Tom Gardner expelled
Ethiopia's media regulator revoked The Economist correspondent Tom Gardner's press accreditation and gave him 48 hours to leave the country, citing unspecified conduct, almost a year after expelling a New York Times reporter.
Expulsion and visa denial · Stage Punish · Head of government Abiy Ahmed · 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
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
Minneapolis police projectile permanently blinds photojournalist Linda Tirado
Freelance photojournalist Linda Tirado was struck in the face by a less-lethal round fired by Minneapolis police while covering protests over George Floyd's killing, permanently blinding her in one eye; the city settled her lawsuit for $60…
Detention and violence · Stage Punish · Head of government Jacob Frey · Sustained
China: press credentials and visas withheld from correspondents at three American newspapers
A survey by the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China found the government refused new press credentials to journalists tied to American outlets and cancelled or refused visas for correspondents at the New York Times, Wall Street Journal a…
Credential control · Stage Punish · Head of government Xi Jinping · Sustained
China expels American journalists from three major U.S. newspapers
China ordered American correspondents for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post to leave the country, in a reciprocal response to the Trump administration capping the number of Chinese state-media employees al…
Expulsion and visa denial · Stage Punish · Head of government Xi Jinping · Sustained
China: three Wall Street Journal correspondents expelled over an opinion headline
China's foreign ministry expelled three Wall Street Journal correspondents and revoked their press credentials after an opinion column, unrelated to their own reporting, used a headline the ministry called offensive.
Access bans · Stage Punish · Head of government Xi Jinping · Sustained
India: journalist Aatish Taseer's overseas citizenship revoked
India's government cancelled writer and journalist Aatish Taseer's Overseas Citizen of India status months after he wrote a Time magazine cover story critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, citing his father's Pakistani nationality.
Expulsion and visa denial · Stage Punish · Head of government Narendra Modi · Sustained
Turkiye: Dutch freelance journalist Ans Boersma deported
Turkish authorities detained Dutch freelance journalist Ans Boersma while she tried to renew her residence permit in Istanbul and deported her the next day, citing an alleged link to a Syrian armed group that the Netherlands said it had ne…
Expulsion and visa denial · Stage Punish · Head of government Recep Tayyip Erdoğan · Sustained
Nicaragua: freelance correspondent detained and deported after online campaign
A coordinated online campaign accused freelance correspondent Carl David Goette-Luciak of being a foreign agent and circulated his home address, after which he was detained and deported from Nicaragua in September 2018.
Expulsion and visa denial · Stage Punish · Head of government Daniel Ortega · Sustained
United States search warrant names Fox News reporter James Rosen a possible co-conspirator in a leak case
A 2010 FBI search-warrant affidavit, unsealed in 2013, described Fox News reporter James Rosen as a possible co-conspirator in violating the Espionage Act because he sought classified information from a State Department analyst, and used t…
Surveillance and subpoenas · Stage Punish · Head of government Barack Obama · Sustained
United States Justice Department secretly seizes two months of Associated Press phone records
The U.S. Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records from more than 20 Associated Press phone lines during a leak investigation, notifying the news agency only after the fact; AP called the scope of the seizure unj…
Surveillance and subpoenas · Stage Punish · Head of government Barack Obama · Sustained
China expels foreign journalists and restricts coverage of the Tiananmen Square protests
After declaring martial law in Beijing on May 20, 1989, China's government imposed rigid restrictions on coverage of pro-democracy protests and, following the military's June 3-4 clearing of Tiananmen Square, expelled Associated Press corr…
Expulsion and visa denial · Stage Punish · Head of government Li Peng · Sustained
United States Senate panel subpoenas dozens of New York Times journalists over Communist ties
The Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, led by Senator James Eastland, issued 35 subpoenas over past or present Communist Party ties in the press, and 26 of them went to New York Times staff. The newspaper protested but several employee…
Surveillance and subpoenas · Stage Punish · Head of government Dwight D. Eisenhower · Sustained
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