Fox News, Newsmax, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, AP and NBC News have joined a slew of other U.S. media outlets refusing to sign up to the Pentagon’s press access rules ahead of a Wednesday deadline.
“Today, we join virtually every other news organization in declining to agree to the Pentagon’s new requirements, which would restrict journalists’ ability to keep the nation and the world informed of important national security issues. The policy is without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections,” Fox News, where Pentagon head Pete Hegseth was formerly an on-air host, said in a statement issued alongside ABC News, CBS News, CNN and NBC News on Tuesday. Only the conservative One America News Network has indicated otherwise.
“We will continue to cover the U.S. military as each of our organizations has done for many decades, upholding the principles of a free and independent press,” the Fox News statement added. The proposed rules from the U.S. defense department would bar news organizations from obtaining unauthorized files, while also restricting access to certain areas of the Pentagon unless accompanied by a minder.
Earlier this week, The Washington Post, The New York Times and other news organizations said they would not sign the new press policy over fears journalists would be put in legal jeopardy for doing routine news gathering. Also rejecting the Pentagon press policy on Tuesday is Newsmax, which called the restrictive regulations “a threat to press freedom and government transparency.”
“Under the proposed policy, media organizations would be required to sign an agreement to adhere to specific guidelines before gaining access to Pentagon officials and information. Newsmax and other critics say these restrictions represent an undue limitation on press freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment,” Newsmax said in its own statement.
Ahead of the Wednesday deadline for the Pentagon ultimatum, there’s no indication the U.S. government department will choose to revise or pull its new press policy, even as discussions with media organizations are understood to continue.
The AP news service also argued it was standing up for press freedom in also rejecting the new Pentagon policy for press accreditation.
“The Pentagon’s new press policy undermines the First Amendment and AP’s core values as an independent global news organization. The restrictions impede the public’s access to information about their government and limit the people’s right to know. AP remains focused on continuing to produce strong independent coverage of the Pentagon in the public interest,” an AP spokesperson said in a statement.
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