Major News Organizations Reject Pentagon's Restrictive Media Regulations, Risking Press Access

The Pentagon's new media regulations represent the latest restriction on press access to defense information.

In the United States, prominent news organizations including The New York Times, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, and Fox News have collectively rejected the Pentagon's new restrictive media regulations on Tuesday, a decision that will result in the revocation of their press credentials.

These regulations follow a series of actions by the Defense Department limiting press access, including evicting media organizations from their Pentagon offices, restricting journalists' movement within the building, and significantly reducing press briefings.

According to the Pentagon Press Association (PPA), the policy effectively "gags Pentagon employees" by threatening retaliation against journalists who pursue information not pre-approved for release.

AFP released a statement Tuesday explaining they "cannot sign up to the terms of the Pentagon document that would require media to acknowledge insufficiently clear new policies that appear to fly in the face of US constitutional principles and of the basic tenets of journalism."

The agency affirmed, "We shall continue to cover the Pentagon and the US military freely and fairly, as we have done for decades."

Major television networks ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox and NBC issued a joint statement rejecting the new rules, arguing they would "restrict journalists' ability to keep the nation and the world informed of important national security issues."

Conservative outlets including Fox News, the Washington Times, and Newsmax have reportedly joined the refusal, potentially resulting in approximately 100 press passes being revoked.

This policy change follows other measures restricting media access, including the Defense Department's earlier announcement requiring eight major media organizations to vacate their Pentagon offices, ostensibly to accommodate other, predominantly conservative outlets.

Additional restrictions include requiring journalists to be escorted outside designated areas within the Pentagon and dramatically reducing press briefings—holding only about six this year compared to an average of two or more weekly under President Joe Biden's administration, which concluded in January.

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News host and Army National Guard veteran, has actively campaigned against departmental leaks, yet was himself implicated in an information security incident earlier this year. He inadvertently shared details about planned strikes against Yemen's Huthi rebels in a Signal messaging app chat that mistakenly included a journalist.

Reports indicate Hegseth has also used Signal to discuss Yemen strikes with his wife and others not typically involved in such sensitive communications, prompting an investigation by the Pentagon inspector general's office.