# Ladder: funding and ownership pressure, in South America

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.

The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.

Narrow with ?stage= (restrict, pressure, punish, silence, eliminate), ?continent=, ?from= and ?to= (year or date).

## Pressure

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.

| Date | Country | Head of government | What was done | Outcome | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| July 1997 | [Peru](https://thewaronnews.com/countries/pe) (RSF rank: not recorded) | [Alberto Fujimori](https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/alberto-fujimori) | In July 1997, the government of President Alberto Fujimori stripped Baruch Ivcher, the Israeli-born owner of Peru's Frecuencia Latina-Canal 2 television station, of his Peruvian citizenship, making him ineligible under Peruvian law to own the station. [Full entry](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1997-pe-ivcher-stripped-of-citizenship) | Sustained | 2 |
| 25 June 2013 | [Ecuador](https://thewaronnews.com/countries/ec) ([RSF 2026 rank: 125th of 180](https://rsf.org/en/index)) | [Rafael Correa](https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/rafael-correa) | Ecuador's National Assembly passed the Organic Communication Law under President Rafael Correa, creating the Superintendency of Information and Communication (SUPERCOM), a regulator that issued more than 675 sanctions against journalists and media outlets over the following four years. [Full entry](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2013-ecuador-communications-law-supercom) | Reversed (20 February 2019) | 3 |

## Silence

Removing outlets or channels from the public sphere: closures, licence withdrawals, forced sales, blocking and shutdowns, prior restraint, nationalisation.

| Date | Country | Head of government | What was done | Outcome | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 13 December 1968 | [Brazil](https://thewaronnews.com/countries/br) ([RSF 2026 rank: 52nd of 180](https://rsf.org/en/index)) | [Artur da Costa e Silva](https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/artur-costa-e-silva) | On the night of December 13, 1968, Brazil's military government, led by President Artur da Costa e Silva, decreed the Fifth Institutional Act, suspending constitutional guarantees and recessing the national Congress. [Full entry](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1968-brazil-institutional-act-five-press-controls) | Unknown | 2 |
| 4 March 2024 | [Argentina](https://thewaronnews.com/countries/ar) ([RSF 2026 rank: 98th of 180](https://rsf.org/en/index)) | [Javier Milei](https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/javier-milei) | President Javier Milei's government fenced off and shut down Telam, Argentina's state-owned news agency, calling it a public-relations operation for the prior Kirchnerist governments; unions and journalist groups called the closure one of the most serious blows to press freedom in decades of Argent… [Full entry](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2024-argentina-milei-closes-telam) | Sustained | 1 |

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All ladders: https://thewaronnews.com/ladders. United States chapter: https://thewaronnews.com/united-states

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