{
  "title": "Ladder: shutdowns and blocking, in Oceania",
  "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/shutdowns_and_blocking?continent=oceania",
  "filters": {
    "continent": "oceania"
  },
  "counts_caveat": "The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.",
  "tactic": {
    "slug": "shutdowns_and_blocking",
    "name": "Shutdowns and blocking",
    "definition": "A government cuts internet or mobile telephone service, blocks news websites or social media platforms, or jams radio and television signals, so that audiences cannot receive news and reporters cannot send it out.",
    "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/tactics/shutdowns_and_blocking"
  },
  "focal_case": "US",
  "count": 1,
  "stages": [
    {
      "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": "1944-australia-calwell-newspaper-seizure",
          "title": "Australia's wartime government seizes a Sydney newspaper edition under press controls rules",
          "occurred_on": "1944-04-16",
          "occurred_on_precision": "day",
          "stage": "silence",
          "focal_case": false,
          "country": "AU",
          "country_name": "Australia",
          "continent": "oceania",
          "rsf": {
            "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
            "year": 2026,
            "rank": 33,
            "of": 180,
            "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 33rd of 180",
            "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
          },
          "leader_slug": "john-curtin",
          "leader_name": "John Curtin",
          "what_was_done": "Australia's wartime government, under Prime Minister John Curtin, controlled press coverage of military events through the Department of Information.",
          "outcome": "reversed",
          "outcome_on": "1944-04-18",
          "outcome_note": "The High Court of Australia granted an injunction days after the seizure, blocking further suppression of the newspaper's editions.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 2,
          "tactic_primary": "prior_restraint",
          "tactics": [
            "prior_restraint",
            "shutdowns_and_blocking"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1944-australia-calwell-newspaper-seizure"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "downloads": {
    "csv": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/shutdowns_and_blocking?continent=oceania&format=csv",
    "json": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/shutdowns_and_blocking.json?continent=oceania",
    "md": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/shutdowns_and_blocking.md?continent=oceania"
  },
  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
  }
}