Ladder
Ladder: credential control, in Asia
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.
The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.
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2Pressure
Using state power short of prosecution to change coverage: regulatory threats, licence reviews, funding cuts, lawsuits by officials, official "fake news" or "foreign agent" labels, advertising pressure, tax audits.
Türkiye's Council of State suspended 2018 rules under which the presidency's Communications Directorate could deny or cancel the yellow and turquoise press cards that let reporters work and enter official buildings, after finding the grounds for denial too broad.
Note: A national regulator controlled the credential every journalist needs to work and enter official buildings, denying or delaying cards for hundreds of reporters for years.
Reversed 1 April 2021 · 2 sources · Full entry
3Punish
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.
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…
Sustained · 1 source · Full entry
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 and Washington Post through 2020.
Note: Credentials and visas needed to work at all were denied to correspondents at three named outlets on a national scale, on top of earlier individual expulsion orders.
Sustained 3 March 2021 · 3 sources · Full entry
Kazakhstan's government adopted rules allowing journalists' accreditation to be withdrawn for six months over conduct at a news event, including asking off-topic questions, while proposing separate rules letting the foreign ministry deny foreign media accreditation over any violation of Kazakh law.
Note: A government rule lets officials withdraw a journalist's accreditation for the content of the questions asked, not only for building or event access.
Ongoing 3 September 2024 · 3 sources · Full entry
All ladders · Credential control: by country and year · The United States chapter