Sources and standards

What counts as an incident

An incident is an action by a government, or by a person acting with a government's authority, that limits journalists' access, credentials, licences, funding, legal standing or physical ability to report. Government includes heads of state and government, ministries, agencies, legislatures, courts, prosecutors, police, armed forces and regulators, from municipal to supranational. Each incident is classified under one or more of thirteen tactics, one of them primary.

Excluded, unless a government actor directed, required or carried out the action: moderation decisions by private platforms; commercial disputes such as carriage fees, ownership changes and layoffs; violence by private individuals or groups; and misconduct by individual reporters.

An incident enters the record when two independent sources report it or one primary document establishes it.

Source hierarchy

1. Court records and primary documents: complaints, judgments, orders and dockets; laws, decrees and executive orders; regulators' decisions; and statements or posts by the office or official that acted. 2. Reporting by established news organizations. An affected outlet's report about itself is attributed as that outlet's account. 3. Reports by press freedom and human rights organizations.

Blogs, advocacy statements and social media posts appear only as the subject of an incident, such as an official's post announcing a decision, never as its evidence. When sources disagree, each account is given, attributed.

The quotation rule

Every fact rests on a verbatim quotation of up to 300 characters from a named source, shown beside it with the source's name, date and link. A statement may not say more than its quotation supports. When the source is not a primary document, the entry names it: "according to NPR".

Dates and precision

Events are dated to the day when the sources allow; otherwise the entry gives the month or year and the data record the precision. Every status line carries its date: "Status as of 2026-09-22". Each page shows when it was published, last changed and last reviewed against its sources.

Neutrality

Every entry records the action and the justification the actor gave for it, both quoted where they exist. If no reason was given, the entry says so and gives the date. Entries do not attribute motive. Words that characterize an actor or an action appear only in quotation marks, attributed to a named speaker or document.

Each country is described on its own legal terms: its constitution, laws, regulators and courts, named as they are named there. No country's law is used to measure another's, and the site does not rank countries; rankings by others are attributed with their year.

Pending litigation

Allegations are attributed to whoever makes them: "the complaint alleges", "the ministry said". A case is identified by its name, court, docket number and filing date, and described as pending until a court rules. Preliminary rulings are called preliminary, appeals are noted and findings are quoted from the judgment.

Journalists' privacy

Entries record professional facts about journalists: name, outlet, role and what happened to them in the course of their work, never home addresses, family details, health information or personal accounts. Officials are recorded for their official conduct. Other people are named only when a primary document names them and the entry needs the name.

Updates and corrections

When a fact changes or proves wrong, a new statement supersedes the old one, and the earlier text stays visible in the entry's history with the date it was replaced. Entries are never deleted; one that proves out of scope is withdrawn with a note at the same address.

Links and archived copies

Links are checked regularly; when an original page no longer resolves, an archived copy is offered.

Illustrations

Illustrations show objects and places, such as credentials, gates or court papers. They never show the likeness of a real person, an outlet's logo or an official seal, and they are not evidence of the events they accompany.

Licence

The site's own text and data are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). You may copy, adapt and republish them, including commercially, with the credit "The War On News, thewaronnews.com". Quotations and linked material remain the property of their sources.