Washington- The Pentagon (the Ministry of War) imposed restrictions on journalistic work inside its buildings, and required journalists to agree in writing not to publish unauthorized information, which brings the confrontation between the media and the administration of Donald Trump to an unprecedented level.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who previously served in the military and worked as a journalist for Fox News, pledged to make the Pentagon more transparent. Hegseth works to adopt “draconian” (strict) policies that control how news and military news are presented in a way that is not much different from their counterparts in non-democratic Third World countries.
New restrictions
The beginning came with the Pentagon announcing major changes in how reporters access information and conduct their work inside the Pentagon building located in the suburb of Arlington, Virginia, adjacent to Washington. It is the largest government building in the world and houses more than 27,000 civilian and military employees.
The Pentagon stopped a practice that journalists had been accustomed to for decades, which was unrestricted access to unclassified areas of the Pentagon, and this enabled Pentagon-accredited journalists to walk through the corridors of the sprawling building and visit the offices of officials.
Since his appointment as Minister of War last February, Hegseth has determined the places where journalists can go unaccompanied inside the building.
The Pentagon then issued new guidelines, which were 17 pages long, and required journalists to sign them and pledge not to publish any information that is not officially authorized to be published, even if it is unclassified.
This step is seen as a means of controlling narratives related to American military affairs, and limiting independent reporting on the Pentagon’s policies and operations, especially regarding the expenditures of its huge budget, which exceeds a trillion dollars annually.
The deadline set by the Pentagon for journalists and media institutions, which requires withdrawing media coverage permits for the Ministry of War from those who do not adhere to the new procedures, has passed, and most of the accredited journalists took the initiative to hand in their press cards, before they were removed from the Pentagon building at 5 pm yesterday, Wednesday.
Media rejection
Major American newspapers, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and others, rejected the Pentagon’s measures, while leading television networks, including ABC News, CBC News, CNN, Fox News, and NBC News, issued a joint statement confirming that they would not sign the new policy. Saying it would “restrict journalists’ ability to keep the nation and the world informed on important national security issues” and “threaten basic journalistic protections.”
Al Jazeera Network also decided to refuse to sign the new procedures for either its correspondents working for Al Jazeera News or Al Jazeera English.
News organizations attributed their rejection of these measures to the fact that they represent a violation of the First Amendment of the US Constitution and an attempt to limit freedom of press coverage.
The Pentagon Press Association, which includes more than 100 journalists, said: “The proposed measures muzzle Pentagon employees and threaten retaliation against journalists who seek information that official authorities have not previously approved for publication.”
She added that the White House, the State Department, and other federal agencies did not at any time require journalists to sign such commitments to enter their headquarters.
Some right-wing media outlets also raised clear objections, and in addition to the rejection of Fox News, which is very close to the Trump administration, Newsmax, the right-wing television station and website most supportive of Trump, said that its reporters had no plans to sign either.
Newsmax said in a statement seen by Al Jazeera Net, “We believe that the requirements are unnecessary and burdensome and we hope that the Pentagon will review the matter further.” On the other hand, One America News TV agreed to the new Pentagon rules.
For his part, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a tweet on the X platform that the media decided to refuse to sign the new policy, and added that access to the Pentagon building is a privilege, not a right.
A journalist accredited to the Pentagon told Al Jazeera Net, “The proposed new procedures place the journalist under penalty of law if he writes or speaks about military issues or anything related to military spending or its expenditures from his own sources.”
Management that is hostile to journalists
It is worth noting that the second Trump administration deals with the press very harshly, and changed established precedents in Washington, most notably changing the seating arrangement in the White House press center, which consists of 49 seats, despite the objection of the White House Correspondents Association, which has historically exercised the right to allocate these seats.
The White House gave what it considered “new media” such as right-wing podcasts more space in coverage, while barring some news organizations, including the Associated Press, from attending certain events.
The relationship between Hegseth and the media reached a hot point of collision after The Atlantic magazine revealed that he shared sensitive military information in unsecured group chats on the Signal application four months ago. Hegseth also accused several people inside the Pentagon of leaking classified information, and claims that this is happening for political purposes and to distort Donald Trump’s ruling record.
The proposed policy states that asking a Pentagon employee for information would be asking him to “commit criminal acts” by disclosing unauthorized information, and that such conduct is not protected under the First Amendment.
This policy sparked widespread objection from press rights organizations, which highlighted the role journalists played in exposing wasteful spending, conflicts of interest, and, in many cases, misconduct in the Pentagon.
Military Correspondents and Editors, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting journalists who specialize in covering military, security and defense affairs in America, said in a statement that “the policy represents an unprecedented attack on the First Constitutional Amendment and on the American people, who deserve accurate reports on how the largest army in the world is funded and managed with taxpayer money.”
Media muzzling
One of the Pentagon’s military officials, who could be contacted periodically to answer questions or inquiries, spoke to Al Jazeera Net. He expressed his regret for these developments, and refused to respond to several questions. He said, “There are new instructions from the office of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth that require submitting a written request 3 weeks before any press talk.”
A professor of media at one of Washington’s prestigious universities also spoke to Al Jazeera Net, but he was reluctant to reveal his identity. He said, “The Pentagon’s new restrictive rules regarding access to news are likely to violate the First Amendment to the Constitution, which stipulates that the government cannot restrict freedom of the press.”
He added, “Yes, there are some exceptions here, but the First Amendment pushed for the media’s right to access and not restricted that right.”