Media Rejects Pentagon's Restrictive New Press Policy
Mainstream Media Across The Political Spectrum Reject Trump Admin’s New Pre-Approved News Policy
If the Trump administration was trying to discourage the public from believing it is a corrupt, authoritarian regime that is perpetually paranoid about too much unflattering truth getting out while it pretends to be transparent, it really needs better messengers than Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Last month, the Defense Department unveiled its new policy that reporters cannot obtain or solicit any information at all unless it was pre-approved by the department itself. If that wasn’t audacious enough, the Trump administration demanded that virtually every mainstream news outlet sign an agreement to adhere to the new policy, and gave them all a deadline of Tuesday, Oct. 14, to sign it.
Fortunately, news outlets across the ideological spectrum have responded to the directive with a seemingly unified message:
Kick rocks. Ain’t nobody signing that.
According to the Washington Post, mainstream news sites, including the Post, the New York Times, the Associated Press, CNN, the Atlantic, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, Reuters, the Guardian, the Washington Times, and Newsmax, said they will not be signing the Defense Department’s restrictive press policy by the deadline, if ever.
Bruh — Newsmax?
A Newsmax host once compared the conviction that made President Donald Trump a 34-time felon to the lynching of Emmett Till.
When Trump was musing about paying reparations to his Jan. 6 pardonees, he went to Newsmax to float that white supremacist nugget of an idea first.
Dominion Voting Systems successfully sued Newsmax for defamation this year because the network wouldn’t stop pretending Trump’s 2020 election fraud lie was a conspiracy theory worth entertaining as an accredited news organization. (Wait, is Newsmax an accredited news organization?)
Newsmax is the network Trump crawls into bed with when he’s mad at Fox News for occasionally telling the truth about him, but even the president’s journalistic sidepiece refused to sign a pledge to only report MAGA-approved news.
By the way, according to the Post, Fox News hasn’t yet said whether it will capitulate to the Defense Department or not. Come on, Fox. I know you’re not about to let the network that is probably your illegitimate child that you only claim for tax purposes show you up like this.
“The proposed restrictions undercut First Amendment protections by placing unnecessary constraints on gathering and publishing information,” Matt Murray, the Post’s executive editor, said in a statement Monday. “We will continue to vigorously and fairly report on the policies and positions of the Pentagon and officials across the government.”
The New York Times’ Washington bureau chief, Richard Stevenson, said the policy “constrains how journalists can report on the U.S. military, which is funded by nearly $1 trillion in taxpayer dollars annually.”
“The public has a right to know how the government and military are operating,” he added.
The Pentagon’s policy demands that any media rep who does not sign by 5 p.m. Tuesday has 24 hours to turn in their media credentials and leave the Pentagon facilities. It will be interesting to see if they can hold tight to that ultimatum now that virtually every non-independent media network that anyone cares about has declined to fall in line with what is really just a continuation of the administration’s attacks on what it has propagandized as the “fake news” media.
It’s worth mentioning, of course, that Hegseth’s policy of non-transparency extends beyond the media. In fact, the Pentagon has revealed that it plans to impose strict nondisclosure agreements and random polygraph testing for military service members, civilian employees, and contract workers within the Office of the Defense Secretary and the Joint Staff. We’re talking personnel that is estimated to be comprised of more than 5,000 people, who are also required to sign a policy agreement that “prohibits the release of non-public information without approval or through a defined process,” according to a draft memo from Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg.
“This seems to be far more directed at ensuring loyalty to DOD [the Department of Defense] and the Trump administration leadership rather than countering any foreign espionage,” attorney Mark Zaid, who has represented multiple whistleblowers and government officials targeted by the Trump administration, told the Post. “There are reasons why individuals were not required to take polygraphs before. And I would question why now the polygraph, and an overbroad NDA, is being required other than to intimidate the workforce and ensure tighter control.”
It also just really feels like this is an administration with plenty to hide, which makes it all the more odd that the man leading the NDA charge is the same guy who couldn’t keep war plans out of the Signal chat.
Ironic, right?
SEE ALSO:
Trump’s DoD Pick Is Fox News Host
Pete Hegseth Exposes GOP’s Double Standard On DEI
Mainstream Media Across The Political Spectrum Reject Trump Admin’s New Pre-Approved News Policy was originally published on newsone.com
