Ladder
Ladder: credential control, in North America
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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Limiting access or credentials for particular reporters or outlets: bans from briefings or buildings, pool changes, credential revocations, accreditation refusals.
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.
Reversed 19 November 2018 · 8 sources · Full entry
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.
Reversed 19 November 2018 · 2 sources · Full entry
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.
Sustained 22 September 2026 · 3 sources · Full entry
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.
Ongoing 9 April 2026 · 5 sources · Full entry
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.
Ongoing 9 April 2026 · 2 sources · Full entry
On September 18, 2026, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, announced that CNN, MS NOW and Politico would be banned from the White House.
Ongoing 21 September 2026 · 33 sources · Full entry
All ladders · Credential control: by country and year · The United States chapter