Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has demanded that reporters agree by 5 p.m. Tuesday to a new policy — in which they pledge not to obtain or use any unauthorized material, even if the information is unclassified — or hand over their press badges in the next 24 hours. Media outlets say this is a violation of their First Amendment rights, with nearly every one refusing to sign.
Outlets' rejection of the restrictive new policy means that for the first time in decades — since the Eisenhower administration — no major U.S. television network or publication will have a permanent presence in the Pentagon.
Television networks, papers and wire services including ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, The Associated Press, Reuters, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Associated Press, The Hill and NewsNation, among others, say they will not sign the policy.
The Pentagon Press Association (PPA) said in a forceful statement last week that Hegseth and his department are trying to “stifle a free press” with the new policy, which it said, “conveys an unprecedented message of intimidation to everyone within the DoD, warning against any unapproved interactions with the press and even suggesting it’s criminal to speak without express permission — which plainly, it is not.”
Only one media outlet, pro-Trump conservative network One America News, has said it will sign the Pentagon’s new policy. Conservative cable channel Newsmax said it will not sign, calling the restrictions “unnecessary.”
Hegseth mocked outlets that have said they will not sign the policy, posting emojis waving goodbye on social media in response to posts from The New York Times and The Atlantic, which both issued statements blasting the move.
“Pentagon access is a privilege, not a right,” Hegseth said in a post on X on Monday. “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.”
Under Hegseth, the Pentagon has steadily restricted access and accommodations for journalists in the building. Earlier this year, the Pentagon made most of its hallways off limits to journalists without an official government escort, a departure from previous hard pass policies.
He also has not briefed Pentagon reporters in nearly four months and press secretary Kingsley Wilson has not conducted a briefing in two months, all while the U.S. military has conducted legally questionable military strikes in the Caribbean Sea, deployed troops to American cities and continues to operate across the globe.
In an op-ed published Tuesday, NPR’s Pentagon reporter Tom Bowman said signing the document “would make us stenographers parroting press releases, not watchdogs holding government officials accountable."
But the rules are unlikely to be altered as President Trump on Tuesday threw his support behind the policy, calling the press “very dishonest,” and insisting the rules were necessary as Hegseth “finds the press to be very disruptive in terms of world peace and maybe security for our nation.”
Read the full report at thehill.com.
