{
  "title": "Ladder: lawsuits against the press, in North America",
  "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/lawsuits_against_press?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": "lawsuits_against_press",
    "name": "Lawsuits against the press",
    "definition": "A government, a government agency or an official sues a journalist or a news organisation, usually for defamation or breach of contract, whether the official acts in office or in a personal capacity. Lawsuits that fail can still cost the defendant years of work and large legal fees.",
    "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/tactics/lawsuits_against_press"
  },
  "focal_case": "US",
  "count": 7,
  "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": "2024-trump-sues-des-moines-register-selzer-poll",
          "title": "Trump sues Des Moines Register and pollster Ann Selzer over final Iowa poll",
          "occurred_on": "2024-12-16",
          "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": "donald-trump",
          "leader_name": "Donald Trump",
          "what_was_done": "President-elect Trump sued the Des Moines Register and longtime pollster Ann Selzer under Iowa's consumer fraud law over her final pre-election poll, which showed Kamala Harris ahead in Iowa days before Trump won the state; a judge later questioned whether the case could proceed without discouragin…",
          "outcome": "ongoing",
          "outcome_on": "2026-07-10",
          "outcome_note": "The judge said allowing the suit to proceed could broadly discourage election polling and reporting; a ruling on dismissal was pending.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 2,
          "tactic_primary": "lawsuits_against_press",
          "tactics": [
            "lawsuits_against_press"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2024-trump-sues-des-moines-register-selzer-poll"
        },
        {
          "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-paramount-cbs-settle-60-minutes-suit",
          "title": "United States: Paramount settlement of Donald Trump's lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview, July 2025",
          "occurred_on": "2025-07-01",
          "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 July 1, 2025, Paramount, the parent company of the United States broadcaster CBS News, announced that it would settle for US$16 million a lawsuit brought by Donald Trump, the president of the United States, over how the CBS program 60 Minutes edited a 2024 interview with Kamala Harris, then vice…",
          "outcome": "sustained",
          "outcome_on": "2025-07-01",
          "outcome_note": "Settled on 2025-07-01: US$16 million to Trump's future presidential library and the plaintiffs' fees and costs; 60 Minutes to release transcripts of presidential-candidate interviews. The outcome enum has no value for a settlement; \"sustained\" records that the settlement terms stand.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 1,
          "tactic_primary": "lawsuits_against_press",
          "tactics": [
            "lawsuits_against_press"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-paramount-cbs-settle-60-minutes-suit"
        },
        {
          "slug": "2025-trump-sues-wall-street-journal-epstein-letter",
          "title": "Trump sues Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch over Epstein birthday letter story",
          "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": "President Trump sued The Wall Street Journal, its owner Rupert Murdoch and two reporters for at least $10 billion, disputing the newspaper's report describing a bawdy letter he was said to have sent Jeffrey Epstein for a 2003 birthday album.",
          "outcome": "ongoing",
          "outcome_on": null,
          "outcome_note": "Dow Jones moved to dismiss the suit in September 2025, arguing the reporting was true; the case remained in litigation.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 2,
          "tactic_primary": "lawsuits_against_press",
          "tactics": [
            "lawsuits_against_press"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-trump-sues-wall-street-journal-epstein-letter"
        },
        {
          "slug": "2025-trump-sues-new-york-times-15-billion",
          "title": "Trump files, then refiles, $15 billion defamation suit against the New York Times",
          "occurred_on": "2025-09-15",
          "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": "President Trump sued The New York Times and four of its journalists for $15 billion over articles and a book published before the 2024 election; a judge dismissed the sprawling original complaint for violating basic pleading rules, and Trump refiled a shorter version a month later.",
          "outcome": "ongoing",
          "outcome_on": "2025-10-16",
          "outcome_note": "A judge dismissed the original complaint for violating pleading rules; Trump refiled a shortened, six-claim complaint in October 2025.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 2,
          "tactic_primary": "lawsuits_against_press",
          "tactics": [
            "lawsuits_against_press"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-trump-sues-new-york-times-15-billion"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "stage": "punish",
      "name": "Punish",
      "definition": "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.",
      "rungs": [
        {
          "slug": "1909-us-panama-canal-libel-prosecutions",
          "title": "United States: President Theodore Roosevelt seeks criminal libel indictments against the New York World and the Indianapolis News over Panama Canal reporting",
          "occurred_on": "1909-03-04",
          "occurred_on_precision": "day",
          "stage": "punish",
          "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": "theodore-roosevelt",
          "leader_name": "Theodore Roosevelt",
          "what_was_done": "President Theodore Roosevelt sought federal criminal libel indictments against the publishers of the New York World and the Indianapolis News after they reported that he and other officials had profited from the United States' purchase of the Panama Canal.",
          "outcome": "reversed",
          "outcome_on": "1911-01-03",
          "outcome_note": "The Supreme Court's 1911 ruling that no federal criminal libel law existed for offenses on federal enclaves left the World and the News without convictions and was later described as an early safeguard for the freedom of the press.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 3,
          "tactic_primary": "insult_and_defamation_laws",
          "tactics": [
            "insult_and_defamation_laws",
            "lawsuits_against_press"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1909-us-panama-canal-libel-prosecutions"
        },
        {
          "slug": "1960-us-montgomery-commissioner-sues-new-york-times-for-libel",
          "title": "United States: Montgomery, Alabama commissioner sues The New York Times for libel over a civil rights advertisement",
          "occurred_on": "1960-01-01",
          "occurred_on_precision": "year",
          "stage": "punish",
          "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": "john-patterson",
          "leader_name": "John Patterson",
          "what_was_done": "L. B. Sullivan, an elected Montgomery, Alabama city commissioner who supervised the police department, sued The New York Times for libel over a 1960 civil rights advertisement and won a $500,000 jury verdict.",
          "outcome": "reversed",
          "outcome_on": "1964-03-09",
          "outcome_note": "The Supreme Court of the United States reversed the Alabama libel judgment on March 9, 1964, and remanded the case for further proceedings consistent with its opinion.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 2,
          "tactic_primary": "lawsuits_against_press",
          "tactics": [
            "insult_and_defamation_laws",
            "lawsuits_against_press"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1960-us-montgomery-commissioner-sues-new-york-times-for-libel"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
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  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
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}