The War On News

How governments have limited journalists, 1900 to today.

Home / Tactics

Credential control

A government decides who counts as a journalist through passes, accreditation or licences issued to individual reporters. Officials may refuse, suspend or revoke these credentials, or attach new conditions to them. Because many press areas admit only accredited reporters, control of credentials works as control of access.

5 recorded incidents in 1 country; the earliest in the record is dated November 7, 2018.

Incidents by country and year

United States (5)

DateIncidentHead of governmentOutcome
November 7, 2018United States: White House suspension of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta's hard pass, November 2018Donald TrumpReversed (November 19, 2018)
February 25, 2025United States: White House takes over selection of the presidential press pool, February 2025Donald TrumpSustained (September 22, 2026)
September 19, 2025United States: Department of Defense press credential rules requiring approval before release of information, September 2025Donald TrumpOngoing (April 9, 2026)
October 15, 2025United States: News organizations turn in their Pentagon press credentials, October 2025Donald TrumpOngoing (April 9, 2026)
September 18, 2026United States: White House hard-pass deactivations for CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters, September 2026Donald TrumpOngoing (September 21, 2026)

Compare countries for this tactic · Filter these incidents

Download these incidents

CSV, JSON or Markdown. CC BY 4.0; credit "The War On News, thewaronnews.com".

CSVJSONMarkdown