The Big Story 

Pentagon beat reporters left the building en masse Wednesday after they turned in access badges rather than agree to new restrictions on how they gather and report the news while covering the U.S. military.

© AP Photo

All but one media outlet rejected the restrictive new press policy implemented by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The new rules would have reporters pledge that they would not solicit any unauthorized material, even if the information is unclassified, or risk expulsion.

A majority of the reporters, including those from The Hill, waited to walk out of the building together shortly after 4 p.m. – an hour ahead of the deadline set by Hegseth’s office to leave the premises. Roughly 40 journalists handed in their badges, with outlets saying the rules were a violation of their First Amendment rights.

The rejections mean that for the first time since the Eisenhower administration, no major U.S. television network or publication will have a permanent presence in the Pentagon. 

Reporters and editors, who have urged defense officials to reconsider the policy, say they will continue to cover the U.S. military with or without access to the building. But the rules mark a new chapter in how journalists will cover the armed forces.

Every major television network, wire, publication and radio outlet has gone on the record in saying their reporters have refused to sign the policy, including ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, CNN, The Associated Press, Reuters, Bloomberg News, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Financial Times, Politico, and NPR, among others. The Hill and its sister network NewsNation have also declined to sign. 

The lone outlet that has agreed to the rule as of Tuesday evening is One America News Network, a far-right news and political commentary television channel and website that has frequently given favorable coverage to the administration. 

Under the new rules, journalists are technically not barred from investigating, reporting or publishing stories on the U.S. military using information deemed sensitive or unclassified, but they could be deemed a vague “security or safety risk” should they even ask Defense Department personnel for such information, according to the rules. 

The policy stipulates that when journalists receive and publish unsolicited classified or sensitive information from government sources, they are “generally” protected in doing so by the First Amendment.  

But “if you solicit the disclosure of such information or otherwise encourage [Defense Department] personnel to violate laws and policies concerning the disclosure of such information, such conduct may weigh in the consideration of whether you pose a security or safety risk.”

The Pentagon describes solicitation as including calls for tips encouraging military personnel to share nonpublic information, as many reporters do via their publications or personal social media platforms.

That was the main sticking point for reporters, the Pentagon Press Association said in a forceful statement last week. 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.”

The new rules follow a steady stream of directives out of Hegseth’s office that have sought to severely curtail press access and accommodations in the Pentagon since the start of the year.

President Trump on Tuesday threw his support behind the Pentagon’s 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 more at thehill.com.

Welcome to The Hill’s Defense & National Security newsletter, I’m Ellen Mitchell — your guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond.

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