Negotiations between the Pentagon press and the Defense Department over easing proposed restrictions on their reporting have reached an impasse, according to the Pentagon Press Association – although the Pentagon says it negotiated in good faith.
In a statement released Wednesday, the Association said it “has been cautious” in its public statements about the restrictions while negotiations are underway on revising the new rules, which journalists are required to approve or risk losing their Pentagon press accreditation.
“Unfortunately, these negotiations have not been as successful as we hoped,” said the Association, which represents journalists who cover the Pentagon.
In September, the Defense Department sent journalists a memo saying they would be required to sign a document acknowledging that they would not disclose either classified information or controlled unclassified information not formally authorized for publication. He warned Pentagon reporters that they could lose their press credentials for “unauthorized access, attempted unauthorized access, or unauthorized disclosure” of classified information or anything designated as “controlled unclassified information.”
The memo also stated: “DoW information must be approved before public release… even if it is unclassified. » The Trump administration sought to rename from the Department of Defense to the Department of War, although a permanent name change may require congressional approval.
Currently, news organizations, including CBS News, are assigned workspaces and credentials that allow journalists limited access to the Pentagon.
Compliance with this directive would mean that journalists could not use anonymous U.S. military sources in most of their reporting without risking losing access to the Pentagon.
Many media outlets balked at the directive and promised to respond. The New York Times said in a statement that the restrictions were “blatantly at odds with the constitutional protections of a free press in a democracy.”
During negotiations over the restrictions, the Pentagon dropped the requirement that journalists “express agreement with the new policy as a condition of obtaining press credentials,” the association’s statement said. But he adds that “the Pentagon still requires us to state in writing our ‘understanding’ of policies that appear designed to stifle a free press and potentially expose us to prosecution for simply doing our jobs.”
The Association said the new accreditation policy “still leaves open the threat that the Department of Defense will revoke the accreditations of journalists who exercise their First Amendment rights by seeking information not previously approved for official publication, even when the information is entirely unclassified.”
“This policy sends an unprecedented message of intimidation to all DoD personnel, warning against unapproved interactions with the press and even suggesting that it is criminal to speak without express permission – which is clearly not the case,” the statement said.
Media have been asked to sign the revised guidelines by next week.
The Association also said it was “surprised and disturbed to learn, through the new policy statement, that the Pentagon is considering moving all of our news agencies from our dedicated workspaces,” a move it said would isolate journalists and make it more difficult to communicate with military sources and spokespeople.
“We hope that the Pentagon will reconsider its decision,” the Association said.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said on
Parnell said journalists are not required to clarify their stories with the Pentagon and are only asked to confirm that they understand the department’s policies on how information is handled.
“Access to the Pentagon is a privilege, not a right, and the Department is not only legally authorized, but morally obligated to impose reasonable regulations on the exercise of this privilege,” Parnell wrote.
