{
  "title": "Ladder: credential control",
  "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/credential_control",
  "filters": {},
  "counts_caveat": "The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.",
  "tactic": {
    "slug": "credential_control",
    "name": "Credential control",
    "definition": "A government decides who counts as a journalist through passes, accreditation or licences issued to individual reporters. Officials may refuse, suspend or revoke these credentials, or attach new conditions to them. Because many press areas admit only accredited reporters, control of credentials works as control of access.",
    "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/tactics/credential_control"
  },
  "focal_case": "US",
  "count": 9,
  "stages": [
    {
      "stage": "restrict",
      "name": "Restrict",
      "definition": "Limiting access or credentials for particular reporters or outlets: bans from briefings or buildings, pool changes, credential revocations, accreditation refusals.",
      "rungs": [
        {
          "slug": "2018-white-house-revokes-acosta-press-pass",
          "title": "United States: White House suspension of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta's hard pass, November 2018",
          "occurred_on": "2018-11-07",
          "occurred_on_precision": "day",
          "stage": "restrict",
          "focal_case": true,
          "country": "US",
          "country_name": "United States",
          "continent": "north-america",
          "rsf": {
            "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
            "year": 2026,
            "rank": 64,
            "of": 180,
            "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180",
            "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
          },
          "leader_slug": "donald-trump",
          "leader_name": "Donald Trump",
          "what_was_done": "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 news conference after the country's midterm elections.",
          "outcome": "reversed",
          "outcome_on": "2018-11-19",
          "outcome_note": "A temporary restraining order of 2018-11-16 required reinstatement; the White House restored the pass on 2018-11-19 and CNN dropped the suit.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 8,
          "tactic_primary": "credential_control",
          "tactics": [
            "access_ban",
            "credential_control"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2018-white-house-revokes-acosta-press-pass"
        },
        {
          "slug": "2018-us-cnn-acosta-credential-revoked",
          "title": "White House revokes CNN correspondent Jim Acosta's press credential after a news conference exchange with President Trump",
          "occurred_on": "2018-11-07",
          "occurred_on_precision": "day",
          "stage": "restrict",
          "focal_case": true,
          "country": "US",
          "country_name": "United States",
          "continent": "north-america",
          "rsf": {
            "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
            "year": 2026,
            "rank": 64,
            "of": 180,
            "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180",
            "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
          },
          "leader_slug": "donald-trump",
          "leader_name": "Donald Trump",
          "what_was_done": "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; a federal judge ordered it restored a week later.",
          "outcome": "reversed",
          "outcome_on": "2018-11-19",
          "outcome_note": "A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order on November 16, 2018, and the White House permanently restored Acosta's credential three days later rather than continue the lawsuit.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 2,
          "tactic_primary": "credential_control",
          "tactics": [
            "access_ban",
            "credential_control"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2018-us-cnn-acosta-credential-revoked"
        },
        {
          "slug": "2025-whca-loses-control-of-press-pool",
          "title": "United States: White House takes over selection of the presidential press pool, February 2025",
          "occurred_on": "2025-02-25",
          "occurred_on_precision": "day",
          "stage": "restrict",
          "focal_case": true,
          "country": "US",
          "country_name": "United States",
          "continent": "north-america",
          "rsf": {
            "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
            "year": 2026,
            "rank": 64,
            "of": 180,
            "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180",
            "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
          },
          "leader_slug": "donald-trump",
          "leader_name": "Donald Trump",
          "what_was_done": "On February 25, 2025, the White House announced that it would decide which journalists join the press pool, the small rotating group of reporters who cover the president of the United States in spaces such as the Oval Office and Air Force One and share what they gather with other outlets.",
          "outcome": "sustained",
          "outcome_on": "2026-09-22",
          "outcome_note": "The White House selects the pool as of 2026-09-22, according to the Associated Press (s104).",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 3,
          "tactic_primary": "access_ban",
          "tactics": [
            "access_ban",
            "credential_control"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-whca-loses-control-of-press-pool"
        },
        {
          "slug": "2025-pentagon-issues-new-press-credentialing-rules",
          "title": "United States: Department of Defense press credential rules requiring approval before release of information, September 2025",
          "occurred_on": "2025-09-19",
          "occurred_on_precision": "day",
          "stage": "restrict",
          "focal_case": true,
          "country": "US",
          "country_name": "United States",
          "continent": "north-america",
          "rsf": {
            "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
            "year": 2026,
            "rank": 64,
            "of": 180,
            "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180",
            "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
          },
          "leader_slug": "donald-trump",
          "leader_name": "Donald Trump",
          "what_was_done": "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 of Defense, Pete Hegseth.",
          "outcome": "ongoing",
          "outcome_on": "2026-04-09",
          "outcome_note": "Judge Paul Friedman ruled against the credential-revocation provisions on 2026-03-20 and against the revised policy on 2026-04-09; the Department of Defense appealed.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 5,
          "tactic_primary": "credential_control",
          "tactics": [
            "access_ban",
            "credential_control",
            "prior_restraint"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-pentagon-issues-new-press-credentialing-rules"
        },
        {
          "slug": "2025-pentagon-press-corps-forfeits-badges",
          "title": "United States: News organizations turn in their Pentagon press credentials, October 2025",
          "occurred_on": "2025-10-15",
          "occurred_on_precision": "day",
          "stage": "restrict",
          "focal_case": true,
          "country": "US",
          "country_name": "United States",
          "continent": "north-america",
          "rsf": {
            "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
            "year": 2026,
            "rank": 64,
            "of": 180,
            "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180",
            "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
          },
          "leader_slug": "donald-trump",
          "leader_name": "Donald Trump",
          "what_was_done": "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, with a deadline of October 17 to remove their belongings.",
          "outcome": "ongoing",
          "outcome_on": "2026-04-09",
          "outcome_note": "Credentials were ordered restored for seven New York Times journalists on 2026-03-20; the ruling against the revised policy on 2026-04-09 is on appeal. Most other outlets remain outside the building.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 2,
          "tactic_primary": "credential_control",
          "tactics": [
            "access_ban",
            "credential_control"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-pentagon-press-corps-forfeits-badges"
        },
        {
          "slug": "2026-white-house-bans-cnn-msnow-politico",
          "title": "United States: White House hard-pass deactivations for CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters, September 2026",
          "occurred_on": "2026-09-18",
          "occurred_on_precision": "day",
          "stage": "restrict",
          "focal_case": true,
          "country": "US",
          "country_name": "United States",
          "continent": "north-america",
          "rsf": {
            "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
            "year": 2026,
            "rank": 64,
            "of": 180,
            "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180",
            "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
          },
          "leader_slug": "donald-trump",
          "leader_name": "Donald Trump",
          "what_was_done": "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 and residence in Washington, D.C. He described the outlets'…",
          "outcome": "ongoing",
          "outcome_on": "2026-09-21",
          "outcome_note": "Cable News Network, Inc. v. Trump (D.D.C. No. 1:26-cv-03287) was filed on 2026-09-21 and is pending; a hearing is scheduled for 2026-09-23.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 11,
          "tactic_primary": "access_ban",
          "tactics": [
            "access_ban",
            "credential_control"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2026-white-house-bans-cnn-msnow-politico"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "stage": "punish",
      "name": "Punish",
      "definition": "Legal or physical action against individual journalists or sources: subpoenas and record seizures, prosecutions, arrests, detention, expulsions, visa denials, assault where a government actor is involved.",
      "rungs": [
        {
          "slug": "2020-china-expels-us-newspaper-journalists",
          "title": "China expels American journalists from three major U.S. newspapers",
          "occurred_on": "2020-03-17",
          "occurred_on_precision": "day",
          "stage": "punish",
          "focal_case": false,
          "country": "CN",
          "country_name": "China",
          "continent": "asia",
          "rsf": {
            "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
            "year": 2026,
            "rank": 178,
            "of": 180,
            "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 178th of 180",
            "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
          },
          "leader_slug": "xi-jinping",
          "leader_name": "Xi Jinping",
          "what_was_done": "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 allowed in the United States, which itself followed China's ea…",
          "outcome": "sustained",
          "outcome_on": null,
          "outcome_note": "The expelled journalists' press credentials were not restored; reciprocal media restrictions between the two countries continued for years afterward.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 1,
          "tactic_primary": "expulsion_and_visa_denial",
          "tactics": [
            "credential_control",
            "expulsion_and_visa_denial"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2020-china-expels-us-newspaper-journalists"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "stage": "silence",
      "name": "Silence",
      "definition": "Removing outlets or channels from the public sphere: closures, licence withdrawals, forced sales, blocking and shutdowns, prior restraint, nationalisation.",
      "rungs": [
        {
          "slug": "1933-germany-editors-law",
          "title": "Nazi Germany's Editors Law bars Jewish journalists from the press and puts editors under state direction",
          "occurred_on": "1933-10-04",
          "occurred_on_precision": "day",
          "stage": "silence",
          "focal_case": false,
          "country": "DE",
          "country_name": "Germany",
          "continent": "europe",
          "rsf": {
            "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
            "year": 2026,
            "rank": 14,
            "of": 180,
            "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 14th of 180",
            "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
          },
          "leader_slug": "adolf-hitler",
          "leader_name": "Adolf Hitler",
          "what_was_done": "Nine months after Adolf Hitler became chancellor, Germany's Schriftleitergesetz, or Editors Law, required journalists to register with a new state-controlled Reich Press Chamber and barred non-Aryans from the profession, while directing editors to omit anything judged harmful to the Reich's standin…",
          "outcome": "reversed",
          "outcome_on": "1945-05-08",
          "outcome_note": "The Editors Law and the Reich Press Chamber ended with Nazi Germany's defeat and unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 2,
          "tactic_primary": "credential_control",
          "tactics": [
            "credential_control",
            "outlet_licensing"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1933-germany-editors-law"
        },
        {
          "slug": "1938-spain-franco-press-law",
          "title": "Franco's Spain requires state permission to be a journalist under a wartime Press Law",
          "occurred_on": "1938-04-01",
          "occurred_on_precision": "month",
          "stage": "silence",
          "focal_case": false,
          "country": "ES",
          "country_name": "Spain",
          "continent": "europe",
          "rsf": {
            "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
            "year": 2026,
            "rank": 29,
            "of": 180,
            "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 29th of 180",
            "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
          },
          "leader_slug": "francisco-franco",
          "leader_name": "Francisco Franco",
          "what_was_done": "While Spain's civil war continued, the Nationalist government led by Francisco Franco enacted a Press Law in April 1938 requiring government permission to found a newspaper, work as a journalist or direct a paper, alongside continued pre-publication press controls and years-long prison terms for va…",
          "outcome": "reversed",
          "outcome_on": "1977-04-01",
          "outcome_note": "Spain abolished prior press press controls by decree in April 1977, after Franco's 1975 death, ahead of the 1978 constitution that guaranteed freedom of the press.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 1,
          "tactic_primary": "credential_control",
          "tactics": [
            "credential_control",
            "insult_and_defamation_laws",
            "prior_restraint"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1938-spain-franco-press-law"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
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    "csv": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/credential_control?format=csv",
    "json": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/credential_control.json",
    "md": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/credential_control.md"
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  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
  }
}