New guidelines require reporters to comply or risk losing their media credentials
\n WASHINGTON
\nThe Pentagon has unveiled new restrictions on media covering the US military, requiring them to pledge not to disclose anything not formally authorised for publication and limiting their movements within the Department of War.
\nThe new guidelines, laid out in a lengthy memo distributed to reporters on Friday, require them to sign an affidavit promising to comply \u2014 or risk losing their media credentials. The move is the latest by the administration of President Donald Trump to control media coverage of his policies, and after he suggested that negative stories could be \u201cillegal.\u201d
\nThe Pentagon \u201cremains committed to transparency to promote accountability and public trust,\u201d the memo says.
\nBut it adds: \u201cInformation must be approved for public release by an appropriate authori[s]ing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified\u201d \u2014 effectively barring material sourced to unnamed officials.
\nThis new restriction would apply to both classified and \u201ccontrolled unclassified information.\u201d
\nThe memo also details sweeping new restrictions on where Pentagon reporters can actually go without official escorts within the military\u2019s vast headquarters just outside Washington.
\n\u201cThe \u2018press\u2019 does not run the Pentagon\u2013the people do,\u201d Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X.
\n\u201cThe press is no longer allowed to roam the halls of a secure facility. Wear a badge and follow the rules \u2014 or go home.\u201d
\nThe new rules come months after Hegseth faced stark criticism for revealing timings of US air strikes on Yemen\u2019s Houthis in a Signal group chat that inadvertently included a reporter.
\nHegseth \u2014 a former Fox News co-host and Army National Guard veteran \u2014 was also reported to have shared those details in a separate Signal group chain that included his wife.
\nA spokesperson for The New York Times \u2014 a frequent target of Trump\u2019s ire \u2014 called the new rules \u201cyet another step in a concerning pattern of reducing access to what the US military is undertaking at taxpayer expense.\u201d
\nNational Press Club President Mike Balsamo hit out at the new rules and called on the Pentagon to quickly rescind them.
\n\u201cIf the news about our military must first be approved by the government, then the public is no longer getting independent reporting,\u201d Balsamo said in a statement.
\n\u201cIt is getting only what officials want them to see. That should alarm every American.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New guidelines require reporters to comply or risk losing their media credentials WASHINGTON The Pentagon has unveiled new restrictions on media covering the US military, requiring them to pledge not to disclose anything not formally authorised for publication and limiting their movements within the Department of War. The new guidelines, laid out in a lengthy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504040,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-504044","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n