Media, including New York Timesthe Associated Press and the conservative television network Newsmax, announced Monday that they would not sign a Defense Department document regarding its new press rules. It is therefore likely that the Trump administration will expel their journalists from the Pentagon.
These media outlets claim that this policy threatens to penalize them for routine information gathering activities protected by the First Amendment. Monday, the Washington Post And The Atlantic also publicly joined the group which announced its refusal to sign.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth responded by issuing the statement Times on X and adding a waving hand emoji. His team indicated that journalists who do not acknowledge this policy in writing by Tuesday will have to surrender their access badge to the Pentagon and vacate their workspace the next day.
The new rules bar journalists from large parts of the Pentagon without escort and provide that Mr. Hegseth can revoke the press access of journalists who request information from any member of the Defense Department — classified or not — that he has not authorized for publication.
Newsmax, whose on-air journalists generally support President Donald Trump’s administration, said: “We believe these requirements are unnecessary and onerous and hope the Pentagon will reconsider the issue.” »
Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell said the rules establish “common-sense media procedures.”
“The policy is not asking them to agree, but simply to acknowledge that they understand our policy,” Parnell said. This caused a real crisis among journalists, who started crying on the internet. We stand by our policy because it is what is best for our troops and the national security of this country. »
Pete Hegseth also relayed a subscriber’s question: “Is it because they can’t move freely around the Pentagon?” Do they think they deserve unrestricted access to a highly classified military installation under the First Amendment? »
Mr. Hegseth replied: “Yes. » Journalists say none of these claims are true.
PHOTO JIM WATSON, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth
Pentagon reporters say signing the statement amounts to admitting that disclosing information not approved by the government undermines national security. “It’s simply not true,” said David Schulz, director of the Media Freedom and Access to Information Clinic at Yale University.
The journalists claimed to have worn badges for a long time, not to access confidential areas and not to divulge information that could endanger Americans.
“The Pentagon certainly has the right to make its own policies, within the confines of the law,” the Pentagon Press Association said in a statement released Monday. It is neither necessary nor justified, however, to require journalists to confirm their understanding of vague and likely unconstitutional policies as a prerequisite for publishing stories from Pentagon facilities. »
Recalling that taxpayers pay nearly a trillion US dollars per year to the US military, Richard Stevenson, head of the Office of the Times in Washington, indicated that “the public has the right to know how the government and the military operate.”
Donald Trump has put pressure on the media in several ways: ABC News and CBS News reached out-of-court settlements following lawsuits related to their media coverage. He also initiated proceedings against the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal and attempted to cut funding to public services, such as Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
