Defense Secretary PT Hegaseth, who banned press access in media outlets and organization Pentagon, is preparing for a fight on the new rules.
Legal experts and media advocates say that the new policy presses an unprecedented attack on press freedom, pointing to a provision that restrictions the release of uninterrupted information.
Pentagon says that media outlets are misunderstanding new rules. Hegseth, who has repeatedly accused journalists of trying to “sabotage” President Trump’s agenda, wrote on the social platform X that this step will establish that ‘press’ does not run the pantagon – people do it. “
To receive or renew the Pentagon pass, according to the 17-pest memo issued on September 19, reporters must sign a contract that assumes that the department’s information should be “approved for public release by a suitable authorized officer before issuing information, even if it is subscribed.”
Those who refuse to sign the form, or do so and then violate the conditions, may lose their access to the Pentagon and all American military features. Reports have been told that they have to sign the form or can be canceled within two weeks.
The non -profit journalists for the freedom of The Hill Press are coordinating their response with the committee, which publicly declared their protest against the new sanctions, asked to delay the implementation and clarification around the new policy.
On Wednesday, the group said that defense officials agreed to meet journalists to discuss concerns about the first amendment rights. In a statement, Gab Rotman, vice -president of the committee of policy, said that the Pentagon policy said in its current form, “Pentagon and our national defense can be prepared to silence independent reporting in public interest.”
Society of professional journalists (SPJ), meanwhile, Has demanded The Defense Department “saved these measures immediately” and urged all journalists and advocated for freedom to “join us in integrated opposition and to ruin the press and to deny this latest attempt to ruin the press and refuse transparency and accountability to American people.”
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell pushed the concerns back from media outlets on the new policy.
“It is no surprise that the mainstream media is once again presenting the press processes of the Pentagon,” he wrote on X on Wednesday.
He said, “Let’s be completely clear: journalists do not need to clear their stories with us. This claim is a lie,” he said. “There is an escort in sensitive areas. Wear a press credentials. Don’t encourage our people to violate the dow policy. Very simple.”
In a letter responding to concerns from the committee of reporters, Parnell said that the rules about issuing information applicable to Pentagon employees, not reporters. However, he said that press access may be affected if reporters are included in violation of rules related to Classified National Security Information (CNSI) and controlled unpopular information (CUI).
“The attainment of unwanted information and later the publication of CNSI or CUI-until it is generally constitutionally preserved and in general, trigger cancellation is not triggered, on its own, on its own. However, in rare, extreme cases, where publication is negligent in negligence, it may be a renewed to an assessment.
“In addition, if a reporter gathering and provides such information for use in the work of the reporter or otherwise makes it aware and encourages the tasks, then such tasks may have to be weighed in this view.
The SPJ called the Pentagon’s response “disgruntled”.
“The language within its own memorandum is clear, saying that all the information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorized officer before releasing, even if it is uninterrupted.” This is not a normal press process – this is the former restraint, “it said in a statement on Thursday.
“Journalists are not employees of the war department. They should never be asked to follow sanctions for government employees. Otherwise suggest is a dangerous staining of roles that weaken significant independent reporting.”
The government and the press have long been prominent on publication of secret or sensitive information, especially with the publication of Pentagon papers in 1971. Documents, which were labeled “top secret – sensitive”, bare the fact that Lidan B. The Johnson administration had misled the public over the years about the course of Vietnam War. The publication of the papers by The New York Times and later The Washington Post led a landmark Supreme Court’s fight, which upheld the first amendment of the freedom of the press.
The new rules of Pentagon take another step by demanding restricting reporting on undisclosed information.
Jonathan Turley, Professor of the Law of George Washington University and contributor of Fox News, warned on Monday that the Pentagon Press policy could be a “bridge too far” as there is no example on reporters for such rules.
“What they are basically saying if you publish anything that is not in the press release, then the Pentagon is not an official statement, you can be held responsible under this policy,” he said on Monday on the “Special Report” of Fox News.
“It’s going to strangle a free press. And the cost is very good.”
The controversy has also attracted the attention of television host Jimmy Kimmel, who returned to the airwaves on Tuesday after ABC’s original company Disney officials, Disney “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Right -wing activist Charlie Kirk’s suspected shooter away from the wind last week on his comments.
Kimmel said of the new Pentagon sanctions in her inauguration monologue, “They want to choose and choose. I know it is not interesting as a comedian, but it is very important to be a free press and it’s crazy that we are not paying more attention to it.”
It is not clear that President Trump has support in new sanctions. Asked on Sunday, whether the Pentagon should decide what the media can cover, he replied, “No, I don’t think so. Anything stops reporters.”
The new rules Pentagon have a continuity of the crack of the press access and the crack at the housing – often despite claiming transparency.
At the end of January, his office booted four outlets from his Pentagon workspaces in favor of other media outlets, including Breetbart News and One America News Network, which has given more favorable coverage to the Trump administration. When reporters complained to Hegseth’s office about the move, the authorities removed four additional news outlets including the hill from their desk.
Hegseth, a former host of Fox News, offered some hallways of Pentagon in May without an official escort-a major change, as reporters had previously accessed most of the building without a escort.
The new memorandum further limits the movement of reporters, given that if the news outlets require access to other areas or offices within the Pentagon for in-commercial interviews or other busyness, they must be avoided by “authorized” personnel and those places.
In addition, Hegseth has made the Pentagon Press Briefing Room of-Limits reporters until a briefing is happening. The room previously served as a place for reporters without a dedicated workpiece to gain access to the Internet from within the building.
So far, Hegseth and his press officials have done a record briefing of less than 10 time since the beginning of the year.
