# Ladder: licensing and closure of outlets, in South America

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.

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 |

## 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1939 | [Brazil](https://thewaronnews.com/countries/br) ([RSF 2026 rank: 52nd of 180](https://rsf.org/en/index)) | [Getúlio Vargas](https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/getulio-vargas) | President Getúlio Vargas created the Department of Press and state messaging in 1939 during Brazil's Estado Novo dictatorship, giving the government direct control over what newspapers, radio and film could publish. [Full entry](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1939-brazil-vargas-creates-dip) | Reversed (1 January 1945) | 2 |
| October 1951 | [Argentina](https://thewaronnews.com/countries/ar) ([RSF 2026 rank: 98th of 180](https://rsf.org/en/index)) | [Juan Perón](https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/juan-peron) | La Prensa, one of Argentina's leading newspapers and a longtime critic of President Juan Perón's government, was expropriated by the state earlier in 1951. [Full entry](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1951-argentina-peron-la-prensa-handed-to-cgt) | Sustained (1 October 1951) | 3 |
| 27 May 2007 | [Venezuela](https://thewaronnews.com/countries/ve) ([RSF 2026 rank: 159th of 180](https://rsf.org/en/index)) | [Hugo Chavez](https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/hugo-chavez) | Venezuela's government let Radio Caracas Television's twenty-year broadcast concession expire rather than renew it, replacing the country's most-watched channel with a new state broadcaster; a regional human rights court later found the decision violated free expression. Note: The country's most-watched television channel lost its national broadcast concession entirely, later found by an international court to have been aimed at ending its critical coverage. [Full entry](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2007-venezuela-rctv-license-not-renewed) | Sustained (8 September 2015) | 3 |
| 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 |

Download this ladder. CSV, JSON or Markdown. CC BY 4.0; credit "The War On News, thewaronnews.com".
- CSV: https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/outlet_licensing?continent=south-america&format=csv
- JSON: https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/outlet_licensing.json?continent=south-america
- Markdown: https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/outlet_licensing.md?continent=south-america

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

Source page: https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/outlet_licensing?continent=south-america. The War On News, CC BY 4.0.