{
  "title": "Ladder: official labels, in North America",
  "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/disinformation_labeling?continent=north-america",
  "filters": {
    "continent": "north-america"
  },
  "counts_caveat": "The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.",
  "tactic": {
    "slug": "disinformation_labeling",
    "name": "Official labels",
    "definition": "A government officially brands a news outlet or a journalist as a source of disinformation or \"fake news\", or requires it to register as an agent of another country. Such labels often carry reporting duties and restrictions, and can cost the outlet its audience and advertisers.",
    "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/tactics/disinformation_labeling"
  },
  "focal_case": "US",
  "count": 3,
  "stages": [
    {
      "stage": "pressure",
      "name": "Pressure",
      "definition": "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.",
      "rungs": [
        {
          "slug": "2025-fcc-carr-news-distortion-complaints-nbc-cbs",
          "title": "FCC chair reopens 'news distortion' complaints against CBS and NBC",
          "occurred_on": "2025-01-22",
          "occurred_on_precision": "day",
          "stage": "pressure",
          "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": "Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr reopened complaints alleging CBS and NBC distorted the news, demanding CBS turn over the full tape and transcript of a 60 Minutes interview and later accusing NBC's parent Comcast of misleading coverage of an immigration case.",
          "outcome": "ongoing",
          "outcome_on": null,
          "outcome_note": "The complaints against CBS and NBC remained open, with no formal licensing action announced in the source reviewed.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 1,
          "tactic_primary": "funding_and_ownership_pressure",
          "tactics": [
            "disinformation_labeling",
            "funding_and_ownership_pressure"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-fcc-carr-news-distortion-complaints-nbc-cbs"
        },
        {
          "slug": "1959-cuba-castro-criticizes-diario-de-la-marina",
          "title": "Cuba: Prime Minister Fidel Castro publicly criticizes Havana newspapers that questioned his government, September 1959",
          "occurred_on": "1959-09-28",
          "occurred_on_precision": "day",
          "stage": "pressure",
          "focal_case": false,
          "country": "CU",
          "country_name": "Cuba",
          "continent": "north-america",
          "rsf": null,
          "leader_slug": "fidel-castro",
          "leader_name": "Fidel Castro",
          "what_was_done": "In a September 28, 1959 television appearance, Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro criticized Havana newspapers, including Diario de la Marina, that had questioned his government's actions, along with the Inter American Press Association's decision to examine press freedom in Cuba.",
          "outcome": "sustained",
          "outcome_on": "1960-05-11",
          "outcome_note": "Diario de la Marina continued publishing independently for a further eight months before its own workers, organized in unions, took the paper over on May 11, 1960, and its publisher went into exile.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 2,
          "tactic_primary": "disinformation_labeling",
          "tactics": [
            "disinformation_labeling"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1959-cuba-castro-criticizes-diario-de-la-marina"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "stage": "eliminate",
      "name": "Eliminate",
      "definition": "Long imprisonment, killing, disappearance or forced exile of journalists, with state involvement as the sources state it.",
      "rungs": [
        {
          "slug": "2023-nicaragua-strips-journalists-citizenship",
          "title": "Nicaragua strips 94 political opponents, including journalists, of citizenship",
          "occurred_on": "2023-02-15",
          "occurred_on_precision": "day",
          "stage": "eliminate",
          "focal_case": false,
          "country": "NI",
          "country_name": "Nicaragua",
          "continent": "north-america",
          "rsf": {
            "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
            "year": 2026,
            "rank": 168,
            "of": 180,
            "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 168th of 180",
            "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
          },
          "leader_slug": "daniel-ortega",
          "leader_name": "Daniel Ortega",
          "what_was_done": "A Nicaraguan appeals court stripped 94 government opponents, including exiled journalists Carlos Fernando Chamorro and Alvaro Navarro, of their citizenship, days after President Daniel Ortega released 222 political prisoners to the United States and immediately declared them stateless too.",
          "outcome": "sustained",
          "outcome_on": null,
          "outcome_note": "Citizenship was not restored to those named; Ortega's government continued comparable actions against critics afterward.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 2,
          "tactic_primary": "expulsion_and_visa_denial",
          "tactics": [
            "disinformation_labeling",
            "expulsion_and_visa_denial"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2023-nicaragua-strips-journalists-citizenship"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "downloads": {
    "csv": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/disinformation_labeling?continent=north-america&format=csv",
    "json": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/disinformation_labeling.json?continent=north-america",
    "md": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/disinformation_labeling.md?continent=north-america"
  },
  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
  }
}