Ladder
Ladder: funding and ownership pressure, in Europe
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.
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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.
During the general strike called by the Trades Union Congress in May 1926, the British government requisitioned the country's available newsprint for its own newspaper, the British Gazette, and placed a provisional embargo on paper supplies to the Trades Union Congress's British Worker and many oth…
Ongoing 10 May 1926 · 2 sources · Full entry
Hungary's parliament, controlled by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party, passed a media law creating a government-appointed National Media and Infocommunications Authority empowered to fine any outlet, print, broadcast or online, for coverage it deemed unbalanced or offensive to public moral…
Sustained 1 January 2011 · 1 source · Full entry
Weeks after winning power, Poland's Law and Justice (PiS) party passed a law letting the treasury minister directly appoint and dismiss the heads of public radio and television, and dozens of journalists at the public broadcaster were subsequently dismissed or resigned.
Sustained 31 December 2019 · 2 sources · Full entry
Index.hu, Hungary's most-read independent news site, fired editor-in-chief Szabolcs Dull weeks after he warned that a change in ownership threatened its independence.
Note: An editor was fired and most of a ninety-person newsroom resigned after a government-linked businessman gained influence over the outlet's ownership; United States funding pressure has not removed an editor through an ownership change.
Sustained 24 July 2020 · 3 sources · Full entry
On December 20, 2023, the president of Hungary, Katalin Novák, promulgated the National Sovereignty Protection Act, passed by the National Assembly, Hungary's parliament, during the government of the prime minister, Viktor Orbán.
Reversed 30 June 2026 · 3 sources · Full entry
Slovakia's parliament, controlled by Prime Minister Robert Fico's coalition, dissolved public broadcaster RTVS and replaced it with a new entity, STVR, whose director is now chosen through a process giving parliament and the culture ministry more direct control, prompting protests and criticism fro…
Sustained 1 July 2024 · 2 sources · Full entry
On August 4, 2026, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, signed a law, adopted unanimously by the Russian parliament on July 24, 2026, that allows the authorities to freeze bank accounts, block property and vehicle sales and deny consular services such as passport renewal to Russians in exile wh…
Sustained 4 August 2026 · 3 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.
Serbia's parliament passed a Public Information Act allowing courts to levy same-day fines against newspapers for vaguely defined offenses against the state's interests, and independent papers were fined far more often and more heavily than pro-government ones.
Reversed 1 October 2000 · 2 sources · Full entry
4Silence
Removing outlets or channels from the public sphere: closures, licence withdrawals, forced sales, blocking and shutdowns, prior restraint, nationalisation.
Gazprom, Russia's state-controlled gas company, used debts owed by NTV's parent company to take control of the country's last major independent television network at a shareholders' meeting, replacing its owner and top editors with its own appointees.
Sustained 14 April 2001 · 1 source · Full entry
Owners aligned with Hungary's governing party donated 476 outlets into one non-profit foundation, KESMA.
Note: Owners surrendered 476 outlets into one government-aligned foundation, exempted by decree from antitrust review; United States funding pressure has cut money and licenses but has not required owners to give up outlets.
Sustained 29 November 2018 · 3 sources · Full entry
Poland's state-controlled oil company PKN Orlen completed the purchase of Polska Press, a group of 20 regional newspapers reaching millions of readers, from its German owner, over objections from Poland's human rights commissioner.
Note: A state-controlled company bought a group of 20 regional papers reaching 17 million readers; United States funding pressure has cut money and reviewed licenses but has not transferred an outlet's ownership to the state.
Sustained 1 April 2021 · 2 sources · Full entry
All ladders · Funding and ownership pressure: by country and year · The United States chapter