Pentagon to limit journalists' access unless they agree not to publish certain information
Source: Politico
Pentagon to limit journalists' access unless they agree not to publish certain information
The unprecedented move is the strongest action yet in restricting how reporters cover the country's largest federal agency.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during the POW/MIA National Recognition Day Ceremony at the Pentagon on Sept. 19. Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
By JACK DETSCH
09/19/2025 08:19 PM EDT
The Pentagon on Friday said reporters who cover the agency could access the building only if they agreed not to publish certain information, an unprecedented move that requires media outlets to hand the department vast control over what they publish.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell, in a Friday evening email, said journalists could continue to enter the Defense Department only if they sign a note saying they will not publish classified information or some less sensitive documents that are not explicitly labeled as government secrets. The rule will take effect over the next two to three weeks.
{snip}
The move follows a pattern of increasingly restricted access under the Trump administration to the country's largest federal agency. The new rules give the Pentagon wide latitude to label journalists as security threats and revoke press passes for those who obtain or publish information that the agency says is unfit for public release.
They also come in the middle of Defense Department efforts to crack down on troops and civilians accused of mocking Charlie Kirk's killing on social media -- and amid a broader debate about potential limits to free speech. … “The ‘press’ does not run the Pentagon — the people do,” Defense secretary Pete Hegseth said in a Friday night post on X. “The press is no longer allowed to roam the halls of a secure facility. Wear a badge and follow the rules — or go home.”
{snip}
Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/19/pentagon-limits-access-journalists-00574227
Original post, from the Washington Post.This is all I can get. I don't have a subscription.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/09/19/pentagon-hegseth-press-unauthorized-material/
Media
Pentagon demands journalists pledge to not obtain unauthorized material
A document spells out the latest in a series of escalating restrictions placed on the press corps covering the Pentagon during Trump's second term.
Updated
September 19, 2025 at 7:40 p.m. EDT1 minute ago
4 min
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends a ceremony at the Pentagon on Friday honoring prisoners of war. (Daniel Becerril/Reuters)
By Scott Nover
The Trump administration unveiled a new crackdown Friday on journalists at the Pentagon, saying it will require them to pledge they won't gather any information -- even unclassified -- that hasn't been expressly authorized for release, and will revoke the press credentials of those who do not obey.
{snip}
= new reply since forum marked as read
