{ "title": "Ladder: licensing and closure of outlets, in Asia", "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/outlet_licensing?continent=asia", "filters": { "continent": "asia" }, "counts_caveat": "The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.", "tactic": { "slug": "outlet_licensing", "name": "Licensing and closure of outlets", "definition": "A government requires newspapers, broadcasters or news websites to register or to hold a licence, and uses that power to refuse, suspend or cancel it, or to close the outlet. Broadcast licences, which governments issue because radio and television frequencies are limited, are a common lever.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/tactics/outlet_licensing" }, "focal_case": "US", "count": 12, "stages": [ { "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": "2025-pakistan-amends-peca-cybercrime-law", "title": "Pakistan amends cybercrime law to create new agency policing 'fake' online content", "occurred_on": "2025-01-29", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "stage": "punish", "focal_case": false, "country": "PK", "country_name": "Pakistan", "continent": "asia", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 153, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 153rd of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "leader_slug": "shehbaz-sharif", "leader_name": "Shehbaz Sharif", "what_was_done": "Pakistan's parliament amended the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act to create a new Social Media Protection and Regulatory Authority with power to block online content and a Social Media Protection Tribunal, and made spreading information deemed 'fake or false' punishable by up to three years in…", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": null, "outcome_note": "The amendment remained law despite nationwide journalist protests and a Human Rights Watch call for its repeal.", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 2, "tactic_primary": "disinformation_labeling", "tactics": [ "disinformation_labeling", "outlet_licensing" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-pakistan-amends-peca-cybercrime-law" } ] }, { "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": "1913-ottoman-empire-press-law-bars-officials-from-editing-newspapers", "title": "Ottoman Empire bars lawmakers and officials from editing newspapers and jails a leading editor", "occurred_on": "1913-03-09", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "stage": "silence", "focal_case": false, "country": "TR", "country_name": "Türkiye", "continent": "asia", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 163, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 163rd of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "leader_slug": "mehmed-v", "leader_name": "Mehmed V", "what_was_done": "In March 1913 the Ottoman government amended its 1909 press law, barring members of parliament and state officials from serving as newspaper editors and applying the ban retroactively to every periodical already in print.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "1913-03-09", "outcome_note": "The March 1913 amendment and its retroactive ban on lawmakers and officials editing newspapers remained the law under the Committee of Union and Progress government.", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 2, "tactic_primary": "outlet_licensing", "tactics": [ "detention_and_violence", "outlet_licensing" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1913-ottoman-empire-press-law-bars-officials-from-editing-newspapers" }, { "slug": "1926-dutch-east-indies-mawa-article-153bis", "title": "Dutch East Indies: Colonial authorities end publication of the communist newspaper Mawa under Penal Code Article 153 bis, 1926", "occurred_on": "1926-01-01", "occurred_on_precision": "year", "stage": "silence", "focal_case": false, "country": "ID", "country_name": "Indonesia", "continent": "asia", "rsf": null, "leader_slug": "andries-de-graeff", "leader_name": "Andries Cornelis Dirk de Graeff", "what_was_done": "In 1926, colonial authorities in the Dutch East Indies ended publication of Mawa, a newspaper linked to the Communist Association of the Indies in Soerakarta, through repeated use of Article 153 bis of the colonial Penal Code, which criminalized advocating the overthrow of the government.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "1926-01-01", "outcome_note": "Mawa did not resume publishing, and the colonial government's restrictions on communist-linked newspapers continued after the 1926 uprising.", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 2, "tactic_primary": "outlet_licensing", "tactics": [ "outlet_licensing", "secrets_and_espionage_laws" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1926-dutch-east-indies-mawa-article-153bis" }, { "slug": "1975-india-emergency-press-censorship", "title": "India imposes pre-press controls on every newspaper during the 1975 Emergency", "occurred_on": "1975-06-26", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "stage": "silence", "focal_case": false, "country": "IN", "country_name": "India", "continent": "asia", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 157, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 157th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "leader_slug": "indira-gandhi", "leader_name": "Indira Gandhi", "what_was_done": "Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency on June 25, 1975, and the next day her government imposed pre-press controls on every Indian newspaper, requiring official clearance before publication and later forcibly merging the country's news agencies into one.", "outcome": "reversed", "outcome_on": "1977-03-21", "outcome_note": "Gandhi ended the Emergency and lifted press controls on March 21, 1977, shortly before her party lost the general election that followed.", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 1, "tactic_primary": "prior_restraint", "tactics": [ "outlet_licensing", "prior_restraint" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1975-india-emergency-press-censorship" }, { "slug": "1980-south-korea-chun-doo-hwan-press-purge", "title": "South Korea's martial-law government purges journalists who resisted press controls", "occurred_on": "1980-07-31", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "stage": "silence", "focal_case": false, "country": "KR", "country_name": "South Korea", "continent": "asia", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 47, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 47th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "leader_slug": "chun-doo-hwan", "leader_name": "Chun Doo-hwan", "what_was_done": "Under General Chun Doo-hwan's martial-law government, South Korean authorities ordered newsrooms in 1980 to purge journalists who had resisted press controls or joined a May sit-in strike for press freedom, and closed 172 periodicals, dismissing roughly 2,000 journalists in total.", "outcome": "reversed", "outcome_on": "1987-06-01", "outcome_note": "South Korea's June 1987 democracy movement led to direct presidential elections and an easing of press controls; a 1986 leak of secret press guidelines had already embarrassed the government.", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 2, "tactic_primary": "outlet_licensing", "tactics": [ "detention_and_violence", "outlet_licensing" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1980-south-korea-chun-doo-hwan-press-purge" }, { "slug": "1987-malaysia-printing-act-bars-court-review", "title": "Malaysia: Printing Presses and Publications Act amended to bar court review of publishing permits, 1987", "occurred_on": "1987-01-01", "occurred_on_precision": "year", "stage": "silence", "focal_case": false, "country": "MY", "country_name": "Malaysia", "continent": "asia", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 95, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 95th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "leader_slug": "mahathir-mohamad", "leader_name": "Mahathir Mohamad", "what_was_done": "Malaysia's government amended the Printing Presses and Publications Act in 1987 to expand its power to ban or restrict publications and to bar any court challenge to the suspension or revocation of a publishing permit.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": null, "outcome_note": "The 1987 amendments to the Printing Presses and Publications Act remained in force, according to the United States State Department's account of Malaysia's press law.", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 2, "tactic_primary": "outlet_licensing", "tactics": [ "outlet_licensing" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1987-malaysia-printing-act-bars-court-review" }, { "slug": "2016-turkey-post-coup-media-closures", "title": "Turkey closes more than 100 media outlets by decree after a failed coup attempt", "occurred_on": "2016-07-27", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "stage": "silence", "focal_case": false, "country": "TR", "country_name": "Türkiye", "continent": "asia", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 163, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 163rd of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "leader_slug": "recep-tayyip-erdogan", "leader_name": "Recep Tayyip Erdoğan", "what_was_done": "After a failed July 2016 coup attempt, Turkey's government closed more than 100 newspapers, television and radio stations, news agencies and publishing houses by state-of-emergency decree, citing alleged links to the movement it blamed for the coup.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2016-12-31", "outcome_note": "Most closures were not reversed by the decrees themselves; Human Rights Watch documented that the closures reached opposition and Kurdish-audience outlets beyond any shown Gulen movement link.", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 2, "tactic_primary": "outlet_licensing", "tactics": [ "outlet_licensing" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2016-turkey-post-coup-media-closures" }, { "slug": "2017-cambodia-daily-closed-tax-bill", "title": "Cambodia's government forces the closure of The Cambodia Daily with a disputed multimillion-dollar tax bill", "occurred_on": "2017-09-04", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "stage": "silence", "focal_case": false, "country": "KH", "country_name": "Cambodia", "continent": "asia", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 151, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 151st of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "leader_slug": "hun-sen", "leader_name": "Hun Sen", "what_was_done": "Cambodia's tax authority presented the independent, English-language Cambodia Daily with a $6.3 million bill the paper called arbitrary and undocumented, forcing the 24-year-old newspaper to close rather than pay, amid a wider campaign against independent media before 2018 elections.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2017-09-04", "outcome_note": "The Cambodia Daily did not reopen; its closure coincided with a wider campaign against independent outlets and civil-society groups ahead of Cambodia's 2018 election.", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 2, "tactic_primary": "outlet_licensing", "tactics": [ "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "outlet_licensing" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2017-cambodia-daily-closed-tax-bill" }, { "slug": "2021-myanmar-junta-revokes-media-licenses", "title": "Myanmar junta revokes five outlets' licenses and raids newsrooms after coup", "occurred_on": "2021-03-08", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "stage": "silence", "focal_case": false, "country": "MM", "country_name": "Myanmar", "continent": "asia", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 166, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 166th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "leader_slug": "min-aung-hlaing", "leader_name": "Min Aung Hlaing", "what_was_done": "Weeks after seizing power, Myanmar's military junta revoked the operating licenses of five independent media outlets covering protests against the coup and raided two of their newsrooms, seizing computers and files; journalists from the outlets were later arrested and charged under a broadened pena…", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": null, "outcome_note": "The five outlets' licenses were not restored; CPJ counted at least 32 journalists still imprisoned as of July 2021.", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 2, "tactic_primary": "outlet_licensing", "tactics": [ "detention_and_violence", "outlet_licensing" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2021-myanmar-junta-revokes-media-licenses" }, { "slug": "2021-hong-kong-apple-daily-forced-closure", "title": "China (Hong Kong): Apple Daily closes after its assets are frozen under the national security law", "occurred_on": "2021-06-24", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "stage": "silence", "focal_case": false, "country": "HK", "country_name": "Hong Kong", "continent": "asia", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 140, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 140th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "leader_slug": "carrie-lam", "leader_name": "Carrie Lam", "what_was_done": "Apple Daily, Hong Kong's largest pro-democracy newspaper, printed its final edition after the government froze its parent company's assets and arrested its editors under the national security law imposed on the territory in 2020.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2021-06-24", "outcome_note": "Apple Daily did not resume publication and its former executives faced additional charges as of the December 2021 report reviewed.", "ladder_note": "A newspaper's assets were frozen and its senior editors charged with offenses carrying up to life imprisonment, ending publication entirely rather than a licensing dispute or fine.", "sources_count": 3, "tactic_primary": "outlet_licensing", "tactics": [ "outlet_licensing" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2021-hong-kong-apple-daily-forced-closure" }, { "slug": "2023-cambodia-shutters-voice-of-democracy", "title": "Cambodia: Prime Minister Hun Sen orders Voice of Democracy's license revoked over one article", "occurred_on": "2023-02-13", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "stage": "silence", "focal_case": false, "country": "KH", "country_name": "Cambodia", "continent": "asia", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 151, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 151st of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "leader_slug": "hun-sen", "leader_name": "Hun Sen", "what_was_done": "Prime Minister Hun Sen personally ordered the license of independent outlet Voice of Democracy revoked over an article about an earthquake-aid agreement signed by his son, rejecting the outlet's published apology.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2023-02-13", "outcome_note": "The Ministry of Information revoked the license as Hun Sen ordered, with no reversal reported in the source reviewed.", "ladder_note": "The head of government personally ordered a national outlet's operating license revoked over one article, rejecting a published apology, rather than pursuing a defamation suit.", "sources_count": 2, "tactic_primary": "outlet_licensing", "tactics": [ "outlet_licensing" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2023-cambodia-shutters-voice-of-democracy" } ] }, { "stage": "eliminate", "name": "Eliminate", "definition": "Long imprisonment, killing, disappearance or forced exile of journalists, with state involvement as the sources state it.", "rungs": [ { "slug": "2025-hong-kong-convicts-jimmy-lai-under-national-security-law", "title": "China (Hong Kong): conviction and 20-year sentence of the media owner Jimmy Lai under the National Security Law, 2025 to 2026", "occurred_on": "2025-12-15", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "stage": "eliminate", "focal_case": false, "country": "HK", "country_name": "Hong Kong", "continent": "asia", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 140, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 140th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "leader_slug": "john-lee", "leader_name": "John Lee", "what_was_done": "On December 15, 2025, the High Court of Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China with its own courts, convicted Jimmy Lai, founder of the newspaper Apple Daily, on two counts of \"conspiracy to commit collusion with foreign forces\" under the National Security Law, which China's central go…", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2026-02-08", "outcome_note": "Sentenced to 20 years in prison on 2026-02-08; no appeal is recorded in the sources cited.", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 5, "tactic_primary": "detention_and_violence", "tactics": [ "detention_and_violence", "outlet_licensing", "secrets_and_espionage_laws" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-hong-kong-convicts-jimmy-lai-under-national-security-law" } ] } ], "downloads": { "csv": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/outlet_licensing?continent=asia&format=csv", "json": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/outlet_licensing.json?continent=asia", "md": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/outlet_licensing.md?continent=asia" }, "license": { "name": "CC BY 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" } }