{ "slug": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "name": "Funding and ownership pressure", "definition": "A government uses money, or its power over owners, instead of acting against reporters directly. Examples are cutting the funds of public broadcasters, forcing the sale of an outlet, steering state advertising away from some publications, and using licence reviews or merger approvals to press an outlet's owners.", "notes": null, "first_recorded_on": "2023-12-20", "incident_count": 6, "by_country": [ { "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "count": 3, "by_year": { "2025": [ { "slug": "2025-usagm-moves-to-shut-down-voice-of-america", "title": "United States: U.S. Agency for Global Media action to shut down Voice of America operations, March 2025", "occurred_on": "2025-03-15", "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": "ongoing", "outcome_on": "2025-03-28", "outcome_note": "A temporary restraining order of 2025-03-28 barred USAGM from reducing its workforce; litigation continued into 2026.", "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "Beginning on March 15, 2025, the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the United States federal agency that oversees the government's international broadcasters, placed most of its staff on paid administrative leave and moved to shut down the operations of Voice of America (VOA), the United States government's international broadcaster. Kari Lake, a senior advisor at USAGM, carried out the action under an executive order of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, to reduce the federal bureaucracy. VOA journalists sued on March 21, 2025, and on March 28, 2025, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order, a short-term order made before a full hearing, that barred the agency from reducing its workforce.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-usagm-moves-to-shut-down-voice-of-america" }, { "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).", "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-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).", "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" } ] } }, { "country": "SV", "country_name": "El Salvador", "count": 1, "by_year": { "2026": [ { "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.", "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" } ] } }, { "country": "HU", "country_name": "Hungary", "count": 1, "by_year": { "2023": [ { "slug": "2023-hungary-sovereignty-protection-act", "title": "Hungary: National Sovereignty Protection Act and Sovereignty Protection Office, December 2023", "occurred_on": "2023-12-20", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "HU", "country_name": "Hungary", "continent": "europe", "jurisdiction": "HU", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "disinformation_labeling", "tactics": [ "disinformation_labeling", "funding_and_ownership_pressure" ], "leader_slug": "viktor-orban", "leader_name": "Viktor Orban", "issue_of_the_day": null, "outcome": "reversed", "outcome_on": "2026-06-30", "outcome_note": "The National Assembly abolished the Sovereignty Protection Office on 2026-06-30, according to CPJ (s055).", "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "On December 20, 2023, the president of Hungary, Katalin Novák, promulgated the National Sovereignty Protection Act, passed by the National Assembly, Hungary's parliament, during the government of the prime minister, Viktor Orbán. The law created a Sovereignty Protection Office empowered to investigate organizations, including news outlets, that it determined might be influenced by foreign actors or threaten national sovereignty. A week earlier, ten Hungarian media outlets had said the law \"is capable of severely restricting the freedom of the press.\" After a change of government in 2026, the National Assembly abolished the office on June 30, 2026.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2023-hungary-sovereignty-protection-act" } ] } }, { "country": "RU", "country_name": "Russia", "count": 1, "by_year": { "2026": [ { "slug": "2026-russia-new-law-targets-exiled-journalists-assets", "title": "Russia: law on asset freezes and service denials for exiled \"foreign agents\", August 2026", "occurred_on": "2026-08-04", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "RU", "country_name": "Russia", "continent": "europe", "jurisdiction": "RU", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "disinformation_labeling", "tactics": [ "disinformation_labeling", "funding_and_ownership_pressure" ], "leader_slug": "vladimir-putin", "leader_name": "Vladimir Putin", "issue_of_the_day": null, "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2026-08-04", "outcome_note": "Signed and in force on 2026-08-04, according to RSF (s062).", "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "On August 4, 2026, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, signed a law, adopted unanimously by the Russian parliament on July 24, 2026, that allows the authorities to freeze bank accounts, block property and vehicle sales and deny consular services such as passport renewal to Russians in exile who have been designated \"foreign agents\" or who cooperate with organizations Russia has labelled \"undesirable.\" A \"foreign agent\" is a Russian legal designation that places a person or organization on a government register and subjects them to added restrictions. Of those designated, \"the vast majority are journalists,\" according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The law entered into force the same day.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2026-russia-new-law-targets-exiled-journalists-assets" } ] } } ], "downloads": { "csv": "https://thewaronnews.com/tactics/funding_and_ownership_pressure?format=csv", "json": "https://thewaronnews.com/tactics/funding_and_ownership_pressure.json", "md": "https://thewaronnews.com/tactics/funding_and_ownership_pressure.md" }, "license": { "name": "CC BY 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" } }