{"id":302861,"date":"2025-10-14T14:47:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T14:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/302861\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T14:47:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T14:47:11","slug":"media-outlets-refuse-to-sign-new-pentagon-press-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/302861\/","title":{"rendered":"Media Outlets Refuse To Sign New Pentagon Press Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tUPDATED, Tuesday: <\/strong>Media outlets ranging from The Atlantic<\/a> to CNN<\/a> to Newsmax<\/a> have so far said that they do not plan for their correspondents to sign a new Pentagon press policy,<\/a> arguing that it attempts to threaten access to the complex unless reporters agree to restrictions on how they have normally done their jobs.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe New York Times, The Washington Post and NPR<\/a> also said that they would not sign, along with other outlets including The Hill and NewsNation.<\/p>\n

\n\tA spokesperson for Newsmax said on Monday, \u201cNewsmax has no plans to sign the letter.\u00a0 We are working in conjunction with other media outlets to resolve the situation. We believe the requirements are unnecessary and onerous and hope that the Pentagon<\/a> will review the matter further.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA spokesperson for CNN said, \u201cWe will not be deflected from our duty to hold all three fairly and fully to account, and we will continue to report on the actions and decision-making processes of the U.S. government without fear or favor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Pentagon unveiled a new policy last month that required that information \u201cbe approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified.\u201d\u00a0The risk for news organizations that signed it was that their reporters could lose their credentials for access to the complex.<\/p>\n

\n\tJournalism groups consulted with Pentagon press officials about changes to the policy, but even after the revisions, still found it too restrictive.<\/p>\n

\n\tLast week, the Pentagon Press Association said that the policy still \u201cleaves open the threat of the Department of Defense<\/a> revoking credentials for reporters who exercise their First Amendment rights by seeking information that hasn\u2019t been pre-approved for formal release, even when the information is entirely unclassified.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe press association said that the policy also \u201cconveys an unprecedented message of intimidation to everyone within the DoD, warning against unapproved interactions with the press and even suggesting it\u2019s criminal to speak without express permission \u2014 which plainly, it\u2019s not.\u201d Some journalists argued that such activity as posting a call for tips on social media would run afoul of the rules.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe deadline for signing is Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe press association, in a new statement issued on Monday, said that most of its members \u201cseem likely to hand over their badges rather than acknowledge a policy that gags Pentagon employees and threatens retaliation against reporters who seek out information that has not been pre-approved for release.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tRichard Stevenson, Washington bureau chief for The New York Times, said that the policy threatens to punish journalists \u201cfor ordinary news gathering protected by the First Amendment. Since the policy was first announced, we have expressed concerns that it constrains how journalists can report on the U.S. military, which is funded by $1 trillion in taxpayer dollars annually.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSome outlets, like ABC News, CBS News, NBC News and Fox News<\/a>, have yet to say whether their reporters would sign the policy. A source said \u201cthings are still in the works,\u201d with CNN reporting that there may be a joint network statement on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

\n\tAn outlet that is signing is One America News Network. \u201cAfter thorough review of the revised\u00a0press policy by our attorney, OAN staff has signed the document,\u201d the network\u2019s Charles Herring said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\n\tThroughout the day on Monday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth<\/a> has responded to news outlets announcing their refusal to sign with a hand \u201cbye-bye\u201d emoji.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe wrote, \u201cPentagon access is a privilege, not a right. So, here is @DeptofWar<\/a> press credentialing FOR DUMMIES: Press no longer roams free. Press must wear visible badge. Credentialed press no longer permitted to solicit criminal acts. DONE. Pentagon now has same rules as every U.S. military installation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut some veterans of the Pentagon press corps said that Hegseth is wrong, in that the press already has been displaying badges. Nor did they have access to areas like classified spaces.<\/p>\n

\n\tNPR\u2019s Tom Bowman, a passholder for 28 years, wrote<\/a>, \u201cSigning that document would make us\u00a0stenographers parroting press releases, not watchdogs holding government officials accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWeijia Jiang, president of the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association, and Shaun Tandon, president of the State Department Correspondents\u2019 Association, said in a joint statement, \u201cAccess inside the Pentagon has never been about convenience to reporters. The public has a right to know how the government is conducting the people\u2019s business. Unfettered reporting on the U.S. military and its civilian leadership provides a service to those in uniform, veterans, their families and all Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UPDATED, Tuesday: Media outlets ranging from The Atlantic to CNN to Newsmax have so far said that they…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":302862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[10755,20272,36555,654,50,91080,7332,6986,49918,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-302861","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-cnn","10":"tag-department-of-defense","11":"tag-electionline","12":"tag-fox-news","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-newsmax","15":"tag-pentagon","16":"tag-pete-hegseth","17":"tag-the-atlantic","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115373070405273940","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}