Pentagon charges ahead with press restrictions ‘designed to stifle a free press,’ media orgs say

By Brian Stelter, Liam Reilly, CNN

(CNN) — Military officials are pushing forward with new restrictions on the Pentagon press corps despite objections from news organizations and watchdog groups.

The policies “appear designed to stifle a free press” and “further isolate reporters” who are trying to do their jobs, the association representing Pentagon beat reporters said Wednesday.

“Limiting the media’s ability to report on the U.S. military fails to honor the American families who have entrusted their sons and daughters to serve in it, or the taxpayers responsible for giving the department hundreds of billions of dollars a year,” the Pentagon Press Association said in its first detailed statement on the matter.

Last month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s press office outlined new rules that would sharply restrict reporting, leveraging the fact that many military reporters have press credentials allowing physical access to the Pentagon complex.

The initial draft said beat reporters would have to sign a pledge to not obtain or use unauthorized material, even if the information is unclassified, essentially turning reporters into Pentagon PR representatives.

As CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, a former Pentagon correspondent himself, pointed out on air, “We’re not supposed to be stenographers for the U.S. military.” But the administration only wants reporters to relay “what’s out there in formal, public Pentagon press releases, and not do any serious reporting on subjects that the Pentagon doesn’t necessarily want the American people to know about.”

Newsroom leaders and media lawyers concluded that military reporters could not accept the new policies as written, and pressed for changes, while also contemplating legal action.

On Monday, the Pentagon circulated an updated draft and gave reporters one week to review and sign, raising the possibility that many news outlets would soon lose access to the Pentagon complex.

“We still have concerns with the updated language of the policy and expect that it will pose a significant impediment as journalists weigh with their employers whether or not to sign this revised version,” Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press VP of policy Gabe Rottman said in a statement.

The press association acknowledged that the Pentagon’s revisions are “no longer requiring reporters to express agreement with the new policy as a condition for obtaining press credentials.”

“But the Pentagon is still asking us to affirm in writing our ‘understanding’ of policies that appear designed to stifle a free press and potentially expose us to prosecution for simply doing our jobs,” the association said.

The association noted that the revised policy also signals that Hegseth’s deputies intend “to move all of our news organizations from our dedicated workspaces.”

The press office already booted some news outlets, including CNN, NBC, NPR and The Washington Post, from those workspaces earlier this year.

This move “will further isolate reporters, making it harder to interact even with the spokespeople inside the Pentagon who are entrusted to approve information for public release,” the association said.

Hegseth, who has been bedeviled by leaks during his tenure as Defense Secretary, has portrayed his actions against the press corps as a matter of national security.

“If you want to move around the building, you’re going to have a badge,” he recently said on Fox, misleading viewers about how press access has historically worked.

“Pentagon reporters have always worn badges, and continue to do so to this day,” the association noted on Wednesday.

Konstantin Toropin, a Navy veteran who covers the Pentagon for The Associated Press, wrote on X that Hegseth has been making “multiple untrue claims about us and our work” while trying to “roll back” press access.

Most major news outlets have not expressly said whether they’ll accept the new rules. However, a spokesperson for CNN pointed out on Wednesday that press credentials are not a necessity for covering military news.

CNN said the network’s “mission to report fairly and fully” on the Pentagon and the Trump administration “will continue regardless of physical access to the Pentagon.”

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