Press retaliation

Press retaliation is adverse government action — formal or informal — taken in response to a journalist or outlet's coverage. Concrete forms include selective tax audits, security-clearance revocations for sources, retaliatory employment actions against government workers who speak to reporters, public denunciation campaigns from officials, and the withdrawal of access privileges for unfriendly outlets. Routine disagreement with coverage is ordinary; retaliation is what happens when the disagreement produces consequences for the journalist or the outlet through state power.