Major U.S. news organizations are refusing to sign a new press-access policy issued by the Pentagon, raising concerns about press freedom, prior restraint, and the public’s ability to hold the military accountable.
Starting with a deadline of Tuesday, Oct. 14, reporters covering the Pentagon were required to sign an agreement under which they must be escorted within certain parts of the building and may publish only information approved by the Pentagon’s spokesman, Pete Hegseth. If they refused, they risk losing Pentagon credentials.
Major broadcast networks, including CBS News, NBC News, ABC News, CNN, and Fox News Media, declined to sign the policy. They say the requirements, effectively police-escorted access and pre-approval of what can be reported, cross a line. Critics say this amounts to a form of prior restraint: that is, government restriction of speech before it is published. Under the U.S. First Amendment, prior restraint is strongly disfavored. For example, in the case of New York Times Co. v. United States (the “Pentagon Papers”), the United States Supreme Court held that any kind of prior restraint of expression “comes to this Court bearing a heavy presumption against its constitutional validity.”
In short, the new policy restricts how freely reporters can gather information at the Pentagon, which has historically been a key player for military accountability journalism. One press statement called the new policy “a significant step to restrict long-standing press access to the Pentagon … sharply limits where journalists can go, requires escorts … curtails opportunities to engage with officials.”
Although reporters may still cover global military news from outside the building, the absence of established news-teams inside the Pentagon (physically and symbolically barred unless they accept the terms) reflects a large shift in the U.S. press-military relationship. Some outlets have already vacated their press offices inside the Pentagon. For decades, the press corps has had accredited access inside the Pentagon under both Republican and Democratic administrations. The current policy marks one of the largest changes in that relationship.
What we are seeing goes deeper than just a dispute over access. It challenges the core of press freedom in the U.S., whether the government can impose conditions that will suppress what reporters ask, what they investigate, and what they publish before they publish it.
