{ "title": "Search in North America, stage: pressure, national level", "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/search?continent=north-america&stage=pressure&level=national", "filters": { "continent": "north-america", "stage": "pressure", "level": "national" }, "sort": "date", "count": 16, "page": 1, "pages": 1, "per_page": 50, "counts_caveat": "The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.", "facets": { "country": [ { "value": "SV", "label": "El Salvador", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 143, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 143rd of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/country/el-salvador" } }, { "value": "US", "label": "United States", "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" } } ], "continent": [ { "value": "north-america", "label": "North America" } ], "tactic": [ { "value": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "label": "Funding and ownership pressure", "count": 9 }, { "value": "lawsuits_against_press", "label": "Lawsuits against the press", "count": 5 }, { "value": "surveillance_and_subpoenas", "label": "Surveillance and subpoenas", "count": 3 }, { "value": "outlet_licensing", "label": "Licensing and closure of outlets", "count": 1 }, { "value": "disinformation_labeling", "label": "Official labels", "count": 1 }, { "value": "prior_restraint", "label": "Prior restraint", "count": 1 }, { "value": "secrets_and_espionage_laws", "label": "Secrets and espionage laws", "count": 1 } ], "stage": [ { "value": "pressure", "label": "Pressure", "count": 16 } ], "level": [ { "value": "national", "label": "National", "count": 16 } ], "outcome": [ { "value": "sustained", "label": "Sustained", "count": 7 }, { "value": "ongoing", "label": "Ongoing", "count": 5 }, { "value": "reversed", "label": "Reversed", "count": 2 }, { "value": "unknown", "label": "Unknown", "count": 2 } ], "leader": [ { "value": "donald-trump", "label": "Donald Trump" }, { "value": "franklin-d-roosevelt", "label": "Franklin D. Roosevelt" }, { "value": "nayib-bukele", "label": "Nayib Bukele" }, { "value": "richard-nixon", "label": "Richard Nixon" } ], "era": [ { "value": "2020s", "label": "2020s", "count": 13 }, { "value": "1970s", "label": "1970s", "count": 2 }, { "value": "1940s", "label": "1940s", "count": 1 } ], "year": [ { "value": "1941", "label": "1941", "count": 1 }, { "value": "1971", "label": "1971", "count": 2 }, { "value": "2024", "label": "2024", "count": 1 }, { "value": "2025", "label": "2025", "count": 10 }, { "value": "2026", "label": "2026", "count": 2 } ], "has_case": [ { "value": "0", "label": "without a court case", "count": 16 } ] }, "results": [ { "slug": "2026-court-orders-fcc-to-answer-news-distortion-challenge", "title": "Appeals court orders FCC to respond to challenge over 'news distortion' policy", "occurred_on": "2026-04-28", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "tactics": [ "funding_and_ownership_pressure" ], "leader_slug": "donald-trump", "leader_name": "Donald Trump", "issue_of_the_day": "Under Chair Brendan Carr, the FCC had used its news distortion policy to open or reopen inquiries into CBS, NBC and ABC's election-season coverage, prompting the petitioners to argue the unresolved policy itself had become a tool of pressure on broadcasters.", "outcome": "ongoing", "outcome_on": "2026-04-28", "outcome_note": "A federal appeals court ordered the FCC to respond to the mandamus petition within thirty days; the underlying policy remained unresolved.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "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" }, "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "A bipartisan group of former Federal Communications Commission chairs, commissioners and the Radio Television Digital News Association petitioned a federal appeals court to force the FCC to act on a long-pending request to rescind its decades-old 'news distortion' policy after Chair Brendan Carr repeatedly invoked it against broadcasters; the court gave the FCC thirty days to respond.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2026-court-orders-fcc-to-answer-news-distortion-challenge" }, { "slug": "2026-el-salvador-freezes-el-faro-shareholder-assets", "title": "El Salvador: freeze on assets of shareholders in El Faro's parent company, February to April 2026", "occurred_on": "2026-04-01", "occurred_on_precision": "month", "country": "SV", "country_name": "El Salvador", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "SV", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "tactics": [ "funding_and_ownership_pressure" ], "leader_slug": "nayib-bukele", "leader_name": "Nayib Bukele", "issue_of_the_day": null, "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2026-05-08", "outcome_note": "In place as reported by CPJ on 2026-05-08; no reversal is reported in the sources cited.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 143, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 143rd of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/country/el-salvador" }, "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "Between February and April 2026, the government of El Salvador, headed by the president, Nayib Bukele, placed \"preventative annotations\" on a bank account and real estate belonging to two partners of Trípode S.A. de C.V., the parent company of the investigative news outlet El Faro, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a non-profit organization in New York. CPJ said on May 8, 2026 that \"the targeting of individual shareholders' personal assets marks a dangerous escalation in the Bukele administration's long-standing effort to dismantle El Faro through administrative harassment.\" The sources cited give no public reason from the Salvadoran government for the measure.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2026-el-salvador-freezes-el-faro-shareholder-assets" }, { "slug": "2025-fcc-pressure-precedes-kimmel-suspension", "title": "United States: Federal Communications Commission chairman's remarks and the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, September 2025", "occurred_on": "2025-09-17", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "tactics": [ "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "outlet_licensing" ], "leader_slug": "donald-trump", "leader_name": "Donald Trump", "issue_of_the_day": "Jimmy Kimmel's on-air remarks about speculation over the motives of the person who killed Charlie Kirk, according to NPR.", "outcome": "reversed", "outcome_on": "2025-09-23", "outcome_note": "ABC announced the show's return for 2025-09-23 after about a week off the air, according to Al Jazeera (s112).", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "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" }, "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "On September 17, 2025, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the United States regulator of broadcasting, Brendan Carr, said broadcasters could \"do this the easy way or the hard way\" over remarks by the television host Jimmy Kimmel, and warned of \"additional work for the FCC ahead.\" Within hours, the station owners Nexstar and Sinclair said they would pull Jimmy Kimmel Live! from their stations, and ABC, the network that airs it, did the same, according to NPR. ABC announced that the show would return on September 23, 2025, according to Al Jazeera.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-fcc-pressure-precedes-kimmel-suspension" }, { "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", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "lawsuits_against_press", "tactics": [ "lawsuits_against_press" ], "leader_slug": "donald-trump", "leader_name": "Donald Trump", "issue_of_the_day": "The suit named Times articles and a book published in the run-up to the 2024 election, including reporting referencing a note Trump was said to have given Jeffrey Epstein, and the paper's endorsement of Kamala Harris.", "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.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "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" }, "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "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.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-trump-sues-new-york-times-15-billion" }, { "slug": "2025-fcc-approves-paramount-skydance-with-ombudsman-condition", "title": "FCC approves Paramount-Skydance merger after CBS ombudsman and anti-DEI pledges", "occurred_on": "2025-07-24", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "tactics": [ "funding_and_ownership_pressure" ], "leader_slug": "donald-trump", "leader_name": "Donald Trump", "issue_of_the_day": "The approval came weeks after Paramount paid $16 million to settle President Trump's lawsuit over 60 Minutes' editing of a Harris interview, a settlement critics said was made to smooth the path for the FCC's review of the Skydance sale.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2025-07-24", "outcome_note": "The FCC approved the merger with the ombudsman and anti-DEI conditions in place; Commissioner Gomez's dissent did not change the outcome.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "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" }, "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "The Federal Communications Commission approved Paramount's sale to Skydance Media after Skydance agreed to install an ombudsman to review complaints of bias at CBS News for two years and pledged to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs, over the objection of the commission's sole Democratic member.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-fcc-approves-paramount-skydance-with-ombudsman-condition" }, { "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", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "lawsuits_against_press", "tactics": [ "lawsuits_against_press" ], "leader_slug": "donald-trump", "leader_name": "Donald Trump", "issue_of_the_day": "The Journal had reported on a letter, bearing Trump's name and an outline of a naked woman, compiled into a birthday album for Jeffrey Epstein in 2003; the story renewed scrutiny of Trump's past relationship with Epstein.", "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.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "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" }, "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "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.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-trump-sues-wall-street-journal-epstein-letter" }, { "slug": "2025-congress-rescinds-cpb-funding", "title": "Congress cuts $1.1 billion in federal funding for public broadcasting", "occurred_on": "2025-07-18", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "tactics": [ "funding_and_ownership_pressure" ], "leader_slug": "donald-trump", "leader_name": "Donald Trump", "issue_of_the_day": "The rescission followed years of conservative criticism that NPR and PBS produced one-sided coverage, and came weeks after President Trump's May 2025 executive order directing agencies to stop funding the two networks.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2025-07-24", "outcome_note": "The rescission became law on July 24, 2025 (Public Law 119-28), eliminating CPB's federal appropriation; no restoration of the funding had occurred in the sources reviewed.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "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" }, "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "At President Trump's request, Congress passed a rescissions package clawing back roughly $1.1 billion already appropriated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, eliminating federal funding for NPR, PBS and their member stations.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-congress-rescinds-cpb-funding" }, { "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", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "lawsuits_against_press", "tactics": [ "lawsuits_against_press" ], "leader_slug": "donald-trump", "leader_name": "Donald Trump", "issue_of_the_day": "60 Minutes' editing of a 2024 interview with Kamala Harris, then vice-president of the United States.", "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.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "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" }, "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "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-president. The money goes to Trump's future presidential library and the plaintiffs' fees and costs, and 60 Minutes will release transcripts of future interviews with presidential candidates, \"subject to redactions as required for legal or national security concerns.\" Paramount \"has maintained that the lawsuit was completely without merit,\" according to CBS News.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-paramount-cbs-settle-60-minutes-suit" }, { "slug": "2025-trump-order-ends-cpb-funding-npr-pbs", "title": "United States: Executive Order 14290 directing an end to federal funding for NPR and PBS, May 2025", "occurred_on": "2025-05-01", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "tactics": [ "funding_and_ownership_pressure" ], "leader_slug": "donald-trump", "leader_name": "Donald Trump", "issue_of_the_day": null, "outcome": "unknown", "outcome_on": null, "outcome_note": "No court ruling on Executive Order 14290 and no final funding figure appears in the sources cited (as of 2026-09-22).", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "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" }, "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "On May 1, 2025, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, signed Executive Order 14290, \"Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media.\" It directs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private non-profit corporation created by the United States Congress in 1967 to distribute federal money to public radio and television, and federal agencies to stop funding NPR and PBS, the country's non-profit public radio and television networks. The order says public funding for news is \"not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.\" NPR and PBS said the president cannot cut funding that Congress has appropriated to CPB.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-trump-order-ends-cpb-funding-npr-pbs" }, { "slug": "2025-doj-rescinds-media-subpoena-guidelines", "title": "United States: Department of Justice rescission of rules limiting subpoenas of journalists, April 2025", "occurred_on": "2025-04-25", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas", "tactics": [ "surveillance_and_subpoenas" ], "leader_slug": "donald-trump", "leader_name": "Donald Trump", "issue_of_the_day": null, "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2025-04-25", "outcome_note": "In effect since 2025-04-25; the sources cited report no restoration of the earlier rules (as of 2026-09-22).", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "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" }, "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "On April 25, 2025, the Attorney General of the United States, Pam Bondi, head of the Department of Justice, the federal department that prosecutes federal crimes, rescinded rules adopted in 2021 and 2022 under her predecessor, Merrick Garland, that barred prosecutors from seeking reporters' records or testimony to identify the sources of leaks. Bondi's memo said leaks of sensitive information to the media undermine the department's ability \"to uphold the rule of law, protect civil rights, and keep America safe.\" The department returned to a test that weighs law enforcement interests against press freedom, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, a United States non-profit that provides legal help to journalists.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-doj-rescinds-media-subpoena-guidelines" }, { "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", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "tactics": [ "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "lawsuits_against_press" ], "leader_slug": "donald-trump", "leader_name": "Donald Trump", "issue_of_the_day": "Paramount was defending CBS against Trump's lawsuit over 60 Minutes' editing of a Kamala Harris interview while seeking Federal Communications Commission approval to sell the company to Skydance, a deal Trump's approval-holding regulator could delay or block.", "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.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "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" }, "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "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 lost the independence it once had.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-60-minutes-producer-owens-resigns-loss-of-independence" }, { "slug": "2025-fcc-carr-news-distortion-complaints-nbc-cbs", "title": "FCC chair reopens 'news distortion' complaints against CBS and NBC", "occurred_on": "2025-01-22", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "tactics": [ "disinformation_labeling", "funding_and_ownership_pressure" ], "leader_slug": "donald-trump", "leader_name": "Donald Trump", "issue_of_the_day": "The CBS complaint concerned 60 Minutes' October 2024 interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris; the NBC complaint, filed in April 2025, concerned coverage of the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.", "outcome": "ongoing", "outcome_on": null, "outcome_note": "The complaints against CBS and NBC remained open, with no formal licensing action announced in the source reviewed.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "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" }, "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr reopened complaints alleging CBS and NBC distorted the news, demanding CBS turn over the full tape and transcript of a 60 Minutes interview and later accusing NBC's parent Comcast of misleading coverage of an immigration case.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-fcc-carr-news-distortion-complaints-nbc-cbs" }, { "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", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US-IA", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "lawsuits_against_press", "tactics": [ "lawsuits_against_press" ], "leader_slug": "donald-trump", "leader_name": "Donald Trump", "issue_of_the_day": "Selzer's final Iowa poll, published days before the November 2024 election, showed Harris leading in a state Trump went on to win by more than ten points, prompting Trump to call the poll itself a form of election interference.", "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.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "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" }, "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "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 discouraging election reporting.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2024-trump-sues-des-moines-register-selzer-poll" }, { "slug": "1971-nixon-white-house-compiles-enemies-list", "title": "United States: Nixon White House \"enemies list\" naming journalists, September 1971", "occurred_on": "1971-09-09", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas", "tactics": [ "surveillance_and_subpoenas" ], "leader_slug": "richard-nixon", "leader_name": "Richard Nixon", "issue_of_the_day": null, "outcome": "unknown", "outcome_on": null, "outcome_note": "No ruling or formal rescission applies; the lists became public during the Watergate investigations of 1973 to 1974.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "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" }, "era": "1970s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "On September 9, 1971, the office of Charles Colson, special counsel to the president of the United States, Richard Nixon, sent White House Counsel John Dean, the president's lawyer on official matters, a memorandum naming 20 people as an initial \"enemies list.\" The list named political opponents, including journalists, for possible action through federal agencies, such as tax audits by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the United States federal tax agency. The IRS commissioner, Donald C. Alexander, refused to launch audits of the people on the list. The lists became public during the Watergate investigations into Nixon's White House.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1971-nixon-white-house-compiles-enemies-list" }, { "slug": "1971-us-nixon-enemies-list", "title": "Nixon White House compiles an enemies list naming journalists for official pressure", "occurred_on": "1971-08-16", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas", "tactics": [ "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "surveillance_and_subpoenas" ], "leader_slug": "richard-nixon", "leader_name": "Richard Nixon", "issue_of_the_day": "Nixon's aides were reacting to sustained critical coverage and commentary from named journalists during his first term, including Mary McGrory's columns, which an internal notation described as habitually critical to the president.", "outcome": "reversed", "outcome_on": "1973-06-27", "outcome_note": "The list became public during John Dean's Senate Watergate Committee testimony, discrediting the effort as Nixon's presidency unraveled over the wider Watergate scandal.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "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" }, "era": "1970s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "White House Counsel John Dean wrote a memo on how to use federal agencies against President Nixon's political opponents, and the resulting list of more than 200 names included journalists such as CBS News correspondent Daniel Schorr. It became public during the 1973 Senate Watergate hearings.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1971-us-nixon-enemies-list" }, { "slug": "1941-us-office-of-censorship-wartime-press-code", "title": "United States creates an Office of Censorship and a wartime code for the press", "occurred_on": "1941-12-19", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "jurisdiction": "US", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "prior_restraint", "tactics": [ "prior_restraint", "secrets_and_espionage_laws" ], "leader_slug": "franklin-d-roosevelt", "leader_name": "Franklin D. Roosevelt", "issue_of_the_day": "The United States had just entered the Second World War after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the government wanted to prevent newspapers and broadcasters from unintentionally publishing information useful to enemy forces.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "1945-09-28", "outcome_note": "The Office of Censorship operated on the press's voluntary compliance through the war and was abolished by executive order after Japan's surrender.", "stage": "pressure", "ladder_note": null, "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" }, "era": "1940s", "granularity": "anchor", "status": "historical", "case_count": 0, "summary": "Twelve days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt created the Office of Censorship. Its director, Byron Price, a former Associated Press editor, wrote a Code of Wartime Practices asking newspapers and broadcasters to withhold information such as troop movements, and most of the press followed it voluntarily.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1941-us-office-of-censorship-wartime-press-code" } ], "other_results": [], "downloads": { "csv": "https://thewaronnews.com/search?continent=north-america&stage=pressure&level=national&format=csv", "json": "https://thewaronnews.com/search.json?continent=north-america&stage=pressure&level=national", "md": "https://thewaronnews.com/search.md?continent=north-america&stage=pressure&level=national" }, "license": { "name": "CC BY 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" } }