Summary
- Pentagon’s
new reporting rules caused mass journalist exodus. - Rules
restrict reporting unauthorized, unapproved military information. - Nearly
all major outlets refused to comply, and left the Pentagon.
Following the refusal of almost all American news outlets,
including Trump-friendly networks Fox News and Newsmax, to adhere to Defense
Secretary Pete Hegseth’s media limitations, dozens of print and broadcast
journalists left the Pentagon on Wednesday.
One of the new guidelines in Hegseth’s 21-page policy, which
he offered credentialed journalists until Tuesday night to accept, was that
reporters were not allowed to ask government employees for any material,
classified or not, without first obtaining permission from the Pentagon.
The Pentagon Press Association, which advocates for about
100 journalists, criticized the policy’s “unprecedented message of
intimidation” and called on the department to change its strategy on its
attack on press freedom.
“Our members did nothing to create this disturbing
situation. It arises from an entirely one-sided move by Pentagon officials
apparently intent upon cutting the American public off from information they do
not control and pre-approve,”
the group, which represents members from 57
domestic and international news outlets, said
this week. Not all credentialed journalists at the Pentagon are represented by
the association.
By Thursday, it was evident who had been abandoned in the
Pentagon corridors. Out of hundreds of credentialed reporters, only 15 had
signed the new press pledge, according to an official government document that
The Washington Post was the first to obtain.
The pro-Trump cable network One America News has two
signatories, the right-wing website The Federalist has one, and the
ultra-conservative publication The Epoch Times has another.
11 reporters remain, including freelancers for international
organizations and a few obscure independent websites that seem to just post on
social media.
“A reporter for the Turkish newspaper Akşam signed the
agreement, as did three individuals from the Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency
and two Turkish freelancers,”
the Post reported.
“Other signers included a
reporter for The Australian, a News Corp-owned Australian paper; an Afghan
freelancer; and three lesser-known operations, AWPS News, the India Globe and a
blog called USA Journal Korea.”
Additionally, two members of the Jordanian TV network Al
Taghier signed an older version of the policy, which had been scrapped and
revised amid negotiations and pushback from the Pentagon Press Association and
other press advocacy groups.
Only One America News had openly accepted the limiting vow
before a group of defense reporters ceremoniously left the Pentagon together
Wednesday afternoon after turning in their badges and clearing their desks.
Requests for response from The Independent and the Post were
not immediately answered by these outlets, but several have publicly defended
and justified the policy.
Charles Herring, president of One America News, claimed in a
statement earlier this week that OAN staff had signed the updated press policy
following a “thorough review of the revised press policy by our
attorney.” Meanwhile, Kristina Anderson of AWPS News, which focuses on
social media, said she experienced “a profound sense of loss as I walk the
Pentagon’s Correspondent spaces today.”
The Federalist CEO Sean Davis, and editor-in-chief Mollie
Hemingway, posted a lengthy and bombastic statement on X claiming they had
reviewed the Pentagon’s press rules and found “zero new restrictions” for
journalists covering the department. At the same time, the conservative pundits
railed against the media at large for rejecting the policy.
“Where were these self-styled First Amendment defenders when
we were illegally censored and targeted for debunking Deep State lies and
hoaxes? Many of them not only refused to defend us, but cheered the illegal
censorship efforts against us,”
the statement declared.
“NBC News, for example,
colluded with Big Tech to demonetize and deplatform us for criticizing the
government and the corrupt corporate news media.”
Besides editing The Federalist, Hemingway is also a paid
contributor for Fox News which joined other broadcast news networks in
rebuffing the Pentagon’s restrictions and refusing to sign the pledge.
“Today, we join virtually every other news organization in
declining to agree to the Pentagon’s new requirements, which would restrict
journalists’ ability to keep the nation and the world informed of important
national security issues,”
the joint statement said.
“The policy is without
precedent and threatens core journalistic protections. We will continue to
cover the U.S. military as each of our organizations has done for many decades,
upholding the principles of a free and independent press.”
Another MAGA-friendly network that generally supports the
Trump administration, Newsmax, also opposed the program, calling its
restrictions “unnecessary and onerous” and requesting that the
Pentagon conduct additional research on the subject.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell mockingly tweeted that
the “self-righteous media chose to self-deport from the Pentagon” and that they
“will not be missed,” while both Hegseth and President Donald Trump remained
steadfast in their support of the prohibitive media policies.
Additionally, he hinted at some more information regarding
the reporters who will be covering the department in the future.
“The Department of War will make an announcement soon
regarding the next generation of the Pentagon press corps,”
he wrote. “Stay
tuned. The best is yet to come!”
How do other countries regulate press access to defense
ministries?
Access to defense ministries by the media differs
significantly between countries, balancing national security with media
freedom.
For instance, press access to the UK Ministry of Defence is
relatively unrestricted. Accredited journalists regularly attend briefings,
attend a press conference and visit military operations where ground rules are
organised. Journalists must have security clearances to enter sensitive areas,
but outside of that, press access is normally unrestricted if they operate
under transparency protection to ensure security of operations is not
compromised.
Some countries create stricter media defenses. For example,
in Russia upon access to the Ministry of Defence and military operations is
never approved without prior approval and the media is strategically limited to
independent military reporting for the purpose of avoiding bad publicity or
leaks.
