Search in Asia, stage: silence
The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.
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India: Gaon Savera's Facebook and X accounts blocked
India blocked independent news outlet Gaon Savera's Facebook page and X account nationwide just before a workers' convention it planned to cover, without a public explanation from the government.
Shutdowns and blocking · Stage Silence · Head of government Narendra Modi · Unknown
Cambodia: Prime Minister Hun Sen orders Voice of Democracy's license revoked over one article
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.
Licensing and closure of outlets · Stage Silence · Head of government Hun Sen · Sustained
China (Hong Kong): Apple Daily closes after its assets are frozen under the national security law
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.
Licensing and closure of outlets · Stage Silence · Head of government Carrie Lam · Sustained
Myanmar junta revokes five outlets' licenses and raids newsrooms after coup
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 ou…
Licensing and closure of outlets · Stage Silence · Head of government Min Aung Hlaing · Sustained
Myanmar: military cuts mobile internet after seizing power
After seizing power on February 1, 2021, Myanmar's military cut mobile data service nationwide, leaving reporters in rural townships and Rakhine State unable to send news and blocking large areas from outside communication for months.
Shutdowns and blocking · Stage Silence · Head of government Min Aung Hlaing · Ongoing
Iran: near-total internet shutdown during fuel-price protests
Iran cut internet connectivity to about five percent of normal levels nationwide for nearly a week during protests over fuel prices, while arresting at least eleven journalists, including one detained for reporting on the shutdown itself.
Shutdowns and blocking · Stage Silence · Head of government Hassan Rouhani · Reversed
India imposes a communications blackout in Jammu and Kashmir after revoking the region's special status
As it revoked Jammu and Kashmir's constitutional autonomy, India's government cut broadband, mobile internet, text messaging and phone service across the region, leaving local journalists unable to file stories, verify information or commu…
Shutdowns and blocking · Stage Silence · Head of government Narendra Modi · Ongoing
Turkiye: Dogan Holding sells its media outlets to Demiroren
Turkiye's largest independent media group, including the newspaper Hurriyet and the broadcaster CNN Turk, was sold to the Demiroren conglomerate, a buyer with ties to the governing party, for a reported 1.1 billion dollars.
Funding and ownership pressure · Stage Silence · Head of government Recep Tayyip Erdoğan · Sustained
Cambodia's government forces the closure of The Cambodia Daily with a disputed multimillion-dollar tax bill
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 aga…
Licensing and closure of outlets · Stage Silence · Head of government Hun Sen · Sustained
Turkey closes more than 100 media outlets by decree after a failed coup attempt
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…
Licensing and closure of outlets · Stage Silence · Head of government Recep Tayyip Erdoğan · Sustained
Turkiye: court installs trustees at Zaman newspaper
An Istanbul court put Turkiye's best-selling newspaper, Zaman, and its parent company under trustees after ruling it supported a group the government called a terrorist organization. Police used tear gas on a crowd that gathered in support.
Funding and ownership pressure · Stage Silence · Head of government Recep Tayyip Erdoğan · Sustained
Israel: a court bars any mention of the 'Prisoner X' case
An Israeli judge ordered Israeli media barred from any mention of a prisoner held under a false identity, or of the order itself, applying a system under which security-related stories must be reviewed and cleared by the military before pu…
Prior restraint · Stage Silence · Head of government Benjamin Netanyahu · Unknown
Burma's new military government tightens pre-publication press controls after seizing power
After crushing the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, Burma's new military government, the State Law and Order Restoration Council, tightened an existing pre-publication press controls board and raised penalties for unauthorized publishing to se…
Prior restraint · Stage Silence · Head of government Saw Maung · Ongoing
South Korea's martial-law government purges journalists who resisted press controls
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, dism…
Licensing and closure of outlets · Stage Silence · Head of government Chun Doo-hwan · Reversed
India imposes pre-press controls on every newspaper during the 1975 Emergency
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 t…
Prior restraint · Stage Silence · Head of government Indira Gandhi · Reversed
Philippines President Marcos closes every major news outlet under martial law
President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law on September 21, 1972, and the next day ordered the military to take over nearly every newspaper, radio and television station in the Philippines, jailing prominent publishers and editors and…
Shutdowns and blocking · Stage Silence · Head of government Ferdinand Marcos · Reversed
Israel retains a British-era law giving the military the power to review and restrict the press
When Israel declared independence in 1948 under Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, it retained a British Mandate-era Press Ordinance giving the military the power to review and restrict publications on security grounds, later formalized thro…
Prior restraint · Stage Silence · Head of government David Ben-Gurion · Ongoing