{
  "title": "Search: surveillance and subpoenas, stage: pressure",
  "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/search?tactic=surveillance_and_subpoenas&stage=pressure",
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    "tactic": "surveillance_and_subpoenas",
    "stage": "pressure"
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  "count": 5,
  "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": "IN",
        "label": "India",
        "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"
        }
      },
      {
        "value": "MY",
        "label": "Malaysia",
        "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"
        }
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      {
        "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": "asia",
        "label": "Asia"
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      {
        "value": "north-america",
        "label": "North America"
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    "tactic": [
      {
        "value": "surveillance_and_subpoenas",
        "label": "Surveillance and subpoenas",
        "count": 5
      },
      {
        "value": "funding_and_ownership_pressure",
        "label": "Funding and ownership pressure",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "prior_restraint",
        "label": "Prior restraint",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "stage": [
      {
        "value": "pressure",
        "label": "Pressure",
        "count": 5
      }
    ],
    "level": [
      {
        "value": "national",
        "label": "National",
        "count": 5
      }
    ],
    "outcome": [
      {
        "value": "unknown",
        "label": "Unknown",
        "count": 3
      },
      {
        "value": "sustained",
        "label": "Sustained",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "reversed",
        "label": "Reversed",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "leader": [
      {
        "value": "donald-trump",
        "label": "Donald Trump"
      },
      {
        "value": "mahathir-mohamad",
        "label": "Mahathir Mohamad"
      },
      {
        "value": "narendra-modi",
        "label": "Narendra Modi"
      },
      {
        "value": "richard-nixon",
        "label": "Richard Nixon"
      }
    ],
    "era": [
      {
        "value": "2020s",
        "label": "2020s",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "1970s",
        "label": "1970s",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "1990s",
        "label": "1990s",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "year": [
      {
        "value": "1971",
        "label": "1971",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "1998",
        "label": "1998",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "2023",
        "label": "2023",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "2025",
        "label": "2025",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "has_case": [
      {
        "value": "0",
        "label": "without a court case",
        "count": 5
      }
    ]
  },
  "results": [
    {
      "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": "2023-india-tax-authorities-raid-bbc-offices",
      "title": "Indian tax authorities search BBC offices weeks after Modi documentary ban",
      "occurred_on": "2023-02-14",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "IN",
      "country_name": "India",
      "continent": "asia",
      "jurisdiction": "IN",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas",
      "tactics": [
        "prior_restraint",
        "surveillance_and_subpoenas"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "narendra-modi",
      "leader_name": "Narendra Modi",
      "issue_of_the_day": "The searches followed the government's ban, weeks earlier, of the BBC documentary 'India: The Modi Question,' which examined Modi's record as Gujarat's chief minister during 2002 riots that killed mostly Muslims.",
      "outcome": "unknown",
      "outcome_on": null,
      "outcome_note": "No penalty or further tax action against the BBC was reported; the broadcaster's India operations continued.",
      "stage": "pressure",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "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"
      },
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "in_effect",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "India's Income Tax Department searched BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai for alleged tax evasion, three weeks after the government used emergency powers to block a BBC documentary examining Prime Minister Narendra Modi's response to 2002 communal violence.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2023-india-tax-authorities-raid-bbc-offices"
    },
    {
      "slug": "1998-malaysia-anwar-arrest-press-restrictions",
      "title": "Malaysia pressures domestic media and monitors foreign correspondents after arresting former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim",
      "occurred_on": "1998-09-20",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "MY",
      "country_name": "Malaysia",
      "continent": "asia",
      "jurisdiction": "MY",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas",
      "tactics": [
        "funding_and_ownership_pressure",
        "surveillance_and_subpoenas"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "mahathir-mohamad",
      "leader_name": "Mahathir Mohamad",
      "issue_of_the_day": "The September 1998 dismissal, arrest and prosecution of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim on corruption and sodomy charges.",
      "outcome": "unknown",
      "outcome_on": null,
      "outcome_note": "The sources reviewed do not describe a formal reversal of the surveillance of journalists or the pressure on party-linked papers during this period.",
      "stage": "pressure",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "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"
      },
      "era": "1990s",
      "granularity": "anchor",
      "status": "historical",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "After Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's government arrested former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim in September 1998, party-linked newspapers pressured staff to follow the official line, police visited journalists who interviewed his wife, and authorities said they would monitor internet traffic about the case.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1998-malaysia-anwar-arrest-press-restrictions"
    },
    {
      "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"
    }
  ],
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  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
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}