(Washington) The American Department of Defense now asks the accredited journalists to have it validated by him any publication of information concerning him, classified or not, under penalty of losing their access to the Pentagon, a qualified change of “attack on independent journalism” by a large association of reporters.
These new conditions, transmitted on Friday evening to the journalists concerned, constitute a new stage in the struggle that Donald Trump and his government against the traditional press, accused of being unfavorable to him.
The information emanating from the Department of Defense “must be approved for their publication with the general public by a dedicated official responsible for authorizations, before the publication, and even if the information is not covered by the Secret-Defense”, can be read in the new document.
This seems to include information collected by journalists via internal sources, outside the official communication channels.
Failure to comply with this rule is explicitly quoted as justification of a withdrawal of accreditation.
“The Pentagon now asks journalists to sign a commitment not to obtain information, even if not covered by the Secret-Defense, unless it was expressly authorized by the government,” said the National Press Club of Washington, a journalists’ association.
“This constitutes a direct assault against independent journalism on the very place where an independent look is the most important: the American army,” adds the text signed by the president of the association, Mike Balsamo, who asks the Pentagon to return to this requirement.
Pete Hegseth, at the head of the “War Department”, according to the name desired by the American President, defended another provision of this new accreditation form on Friday.
“The press is no longer allowed to walk in the corridors of a secure installation. Wear your badge and follow the rules-or go home, “he wrote on X.
As soon as he arrived at the Pentagon at the start of the year, he had removed offices from the great progressive media within the Pentagon to give them to more marked publications on the right.
Donald Trump, after having sued the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times And having rejoiced at the eviction of the humorist Jimmy Kimmel of his channel for his political remarks, described the media covers to him too negative on Friday.
