{ "title": "Ladder: funding and ownership pressure, in North America", "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/funding_and_ownership_pressure?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": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "name": "Funding and ownership pressure", "definition": "A government uses money, or its power over owners, instead of acting against reporters directly. Examples are cutting the funds of public broadcasters, forcing the sale of an outlet, steering state advertising away from some publications, and using licence reviews or merger approvals to press an outlet's owners.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/tactics/funding_and_ownership_pressure" }, "focal_case": "US", "count": 11, "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": "1934-us-louisiana-newspaper-tax-grosjean", "title": "United States: Louisiana taxes large newspapers' advertising revenue; the tax is struck down in Grosjean v. American Press Co.", "occurred_on": "1934-07-12", "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": "oscar-k-allen", "leader_name": "Oscar K. Allen", "what_was_done": "Louisiana taxed the gross receipts that businesses earned from advertising in newspapers with circulations above 20,000 copies a week, a threshold that caught the state's largest papers.", "outcome": "reversed", "outcome_on": "1936-02-10", "outcome_note": "The Supreme Court's ruling voided the tax and left Louisiana's large newspapers free of it.", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 2, "tactic_primary": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "tactics": [ "funding_and_ownership_pressure" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1934-us-louisiana-newspaper-tax-grosjean" }, { "slug": "1971-us-nixon-enemies-list", "title": "Nixon White House compiles an enemies list naming journalists for official pressure", "occurred_on": "1971-08-16", "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": "richard-nixon", "leader_name": "Richard Nixon", "what_was_done": "White House Counsel John Dean wrote a memo on how to use federal agencies against President Nixon's political opponents, and the resulting list of more than 200 names included journalists such as CBS News correspondent Daniel Schorr.", "outcome": "reversed", "outcome_on": "1973-06-27", "outcome_note": "The list became public during John Dean's Senate Watergate Committee testimony, discrediting the effort as Nixon's presidency unraveled over the wider Watergate scandal.", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 2, "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas", "tactics": [ "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "surveillance_and_subpoenas" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1971-us-nixon-enemies-list" }, { "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": "2025-60-minutes-producer-owens-resigns-loss-of-independence", "title": "60 Minutes executive producer resigns, citing lost editorial independence", "occurred_on": "2025-04-22", "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": "60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens resigned, saying corporate owner Paramount had begun supervising the program's content in new ways while it faced President Trump's lawsuit over a Harris interview and pursued a sale requiring federal approval; the program publicly said on air that it had lo…", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2025-04-22", "outcome_note": "Owens's resignation was not reversed; the program continued under Paramount's new oversight amid the pending settlement and merger.", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 1, "tactic_primary": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "tactics": [ "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "lawsuits_against_press" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-60-minutes-producer-owens-resigns-loss-of-independence" }, { "slug": "2025-trump-order-ends-cpb-funding-npr-pbs", "title": "United States: Executive Order 14290 directing an end to federal funding for NPR and PBS, May 2025", "occurred_on": "2025-05-01", "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": "On May 1, 2025, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, signed Executive Order 14290, \"Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media.\"", "outcome": "unknown", "outcome_on": null, "outcome_note": "No court ruling on Executive Order 14290 and no final funding figure appears in the sources cited (as of 2026-09-22).", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 3, "tactic_primary": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "tactics": [ "funding_and_ownership_pressure" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-trump-order-ends-cpb-funding-npr-pbs" }, { "slug": "2025-congress-rescinds-cpb-funding", "title": "Congress cuts $1.1 billion in federal funding for public broadcasting", "occurred_on": "2025-07-18", "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": "At President Trump's request, Congress passed a rescissions package clawing back roughly $1.1 billion already appropriated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, eliminating federal funding for NPR, PBS and their member stations.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2025-07-24", "outcome_note": "The rescission became law on July 24, 2025 (Public Law 119-28), eliminating CPB's federal appropriation; no restoration of the funding had occurred in the sources reviewed.", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 2, "tactic_primary": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "tactics": [ "funding_and_ownership_pressure" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-congress-rescinds-cpb-funding" }, { "slug": "2025-fcc-approves-paramount-skydance-with-ombudsman-condition", "title": "FCC approves Paramount-Skydance merger after CBS ombudsman and anti-DEI pledges", "occurred_on": "2025-07-24", "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": "The Federal Communications Commission approved Paramount's sale to Skydance Media after Skydance agreed to install an ombudsman to review complaints of bias at CBS News for two years and pledged to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs, over the objection of the commission's sole Democratic…", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2025-07-24", "outcome_note": "The FCC approved the merger with the ombudsman and anti-DEI conditions in place; Commissioner Gomez's dissent did not change the outcome.", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 1, "tactic_primary": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "tactics": [ "funding_and_ownership_pressure" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-fcc-approves-paramount-skydance-with-ombudsman-condition" }, { "slug": "2025-fcc-pressure-precedes-kimmel-suspension", "title": "United States: Federal Communications Commission chairman's remarks and the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, September 2025", "occurred_on": "2025-09-17", "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": "On September 17, 2025, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the United States regulator of broadcasting, Brendan Carr, said broadcasters could \"do this the easy way or the hard way\" over remarks by the television host Jimmy Kimmel, and warned of \"additional work for the FCC…", "outcome": "reversed", "outcome_on": "2025-09-23", "outcome_note": "ABC announced the show's return for 2025-09-23 after about a week off the air, according to Al Jazeera (s112).", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 2, "tactic_primary": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "tactics": [ "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "outlet_licensing" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-fcc-pressure-precedes-kimmel-suspension" }, { "slug": "2026-court-orders-fcc-to-answer-news-distortion-challenge", "title": "Appeals court orders FCC to respond to challenge over 'news distortion' policy", "occurred_on": "2026-04-28", "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": "A bipartisan group of former Federal Communications Commission chairs, commissioners and the Radio Television Digital News Association petitioned a federal appeals court to force the FCC to act on a long-pending request to rescind its decades-old 'news distortion' policy after Chair Brendan Carr re…", "outcome": "ongoing", "outcome_on": "2026-04-28", "outcome_note": "A federal appeals court ordered the FCC to respond to the mandamus petition within thirty days; the underlying policy remained unresolved.", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 1, "tactic_primary": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "tactics": [ "funding_and_ownership_pressure" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2026-court-orders-fcc-to-answer-news-distortion-challenge" }, { "slug": "2026-el-salvador-freezes-el-faro-shareholder-assets", "title": "El Salvador: freeze on assets of shareholders in El Faro's parent company, February to April 2026", "occurred_on": "2026-04-01", "occurred_on_precision": "month", "stage": "pressure", "focal_case": false, "country": "SV", "country_name": "El Salvador", "continent": "north-america", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 143, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 143rd of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/country/el-salvador" }, "leader_slug": "nayib-bukele", "leader_name": "Nayib Bukele", "what_was_done": "Between February and April 2026, the government of El Salvador, headed by the president, Nayib Bukele, placed \"preventative annotations\" on a bank account and real estate belonging to two partners of Trípode S.A. de C.V., the parent company of the investigative news outlet El Faro, according to the…", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2026-05-08", "outcome_note": "In place as reported by CPJ on 2026-05-08; no reversal is reported in the sources cited.", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 3, "tactic_primary": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "tactics": [ "funding_and_ownership_pressure" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2026-el-salvador-freezes-el-faro-shareholder-assets" } ] }, { "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": "2025-usagm-moves-to-shut-down-voice-of-america", "title": "United States: U.S. Agency for Global Media action to shut down Voice of America operations, March 2025", "occurred_on": "2025-03-15", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "stage": "silence", "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 March 15, 2025, the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the United States federal agency that oversees the government's international broadcasters, placed most of its staff on paid administrative leave and moved to shut down the operations of Voice of America (VOA), the United States…", "outcome": "ongoing", "outcome_on": "2025-03-28", "outcome_note": "A temporary restraining order of 2025-03-28 barred USAGM from reducing its workforce; litigation continued into 2026.", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 5, "tactic_primary": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "tactics": [ "funding_and_ownership_pressure" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-usagm-moves-to-shut-down-voice-of-america" } ] } ], "downloads": { "csv": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/funding_and_ownership_pressure?continent=north-america&format=csv", "json": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/funding_and_ownership_pressure.json?continent=north-america", "md": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/funding_and_ownership_pressure.md?continent=north-america" }, "license": { "name": "CC BY 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" } }