President Donald Trump on Tuesday floated moving the White House press corps across the street after the media largely rejected the Pentagon’s new restrictions.
The president noted to reporters that the press used to be located “across the street” years ago, when news outlets had less access to the White House. He then pivoted to defending War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s restrictions.
Trump said it bothers him for the press to be in such close proximity to military personnel, who could “instantly” make a “tragic” mistake, and lack skills to “deal with the press.”
Several media outlets, including the Washington Examiner and Fox News, have refused to comply with the Trump administration’s new restrictions on reporters covering the Pentagon.
“We do not plan to sign the Pentagon document. The Washington Examiner does not sign agreements with people we cover in our reporting in any other area, and we do not plan to make an exception in this case. The Department of War will set its rules and we will continue to provide our readers with strong independent news reporting,” Washington Examiner Editor-in-Chief Hugo Gurdon said.
Fox’s move to reject Hegseth’s demands, despite being the country’s most powerful conservative network, highlights the near-universal pushback against the Pentagon’s recently announced press policies. And it signals personal backlash to Hegseth, who worked at Fox as a show host before ascending to the highest ranks at the Pentagon.
“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 joint statement from Fox News, CBS, CNN, ABC, and NBC read.
“The policy is without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections,” the statement continued, as the outlets pledged to 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 deadline for media outlets to sign the Pentagon’s new press policy is Wednesday. The Pentagon has said that reporters who don’t acknowledge the policy in writing by then must turn in their credentials.
Hegseth set the new policies due to arguments that reporters’ First Amendment rights do not include access to potentially sensitive military information.
“Pentagon access is a privilege, not a right,” he wrote in a post on X on Monday. “Press no longer roams free. Press must wear visible badge. Credentialed press no longer permitted to solicit criminal acts. DONE. Pentagon now has same rules as every U.S military installation.”
The policy limits access traditionally granted for reporters who are credentialed to work at the Pentagon. It bars journalists’ access to large swaths of the Pentagon without an escort, and asserts Hegseth can revoke press access to reporters who ask anyone in the Defense Department for information that he has not approved for release.
TRUMP SAYS PENTAGON SHOULD NOT DECIDE WHAT INFORMATION JOURNALISTS CAN REPORT
One America News Network, a pro-Trump media outlet, is the only network that has committed to signing the Pentagon’s new policy.
In addition to the Washington Examiner, NewsNation, Newsmax, NPR, the Washington Post, the Atlantic, the Guardian, the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, the New York Times, Axios, the Associated Press, the Hill, and the Washington Times also declined to sign the updated terms.
