The Pentagon has unveiled new restrictions on United States\u2019s media covering American military, requiring them to pledge not to disclose anything not formally authorised for publication and limiting their movements within the Department of War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new guidelines, laid out in a lengthy memo distributed to reporters on Friday, require them to sign an affidavit promising to comply, or risk losing their media credentials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The move is the latest by the administration of President Donald Trump to control media coverage of his policies, after he suggested that negative stories could be \u201cillegal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Pentagon \u201cremains committed to transparency to promote accountability and public trust,\u201d the memo says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it adds: \u201cInformation must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorising official before it is released, even if it is unclassified\u201d, effectively barring material sourced to unnamed officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This new restriction would apply to both classified and \u201ccontrolled unclassified information.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe \u2018press\u2019 does not run the Pentagon \u2014 the people do,\u201d Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X. \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<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 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<\/a> that inadvertently included a reporter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hegseth, a former Fox News<\/em> co-host and Army National Guard veteran, was also reported to have shared those details in a separate Signal group chain that included his wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A spokesperson for The New York Times<\/em> \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<\/p>\n\n\n\n National Press Club President Mike Balsamo hit out at the new rules, and called on the Pentagon to quickly rescind them.<\/p>\n\n\n\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. \u201cIt is getting only what officials want them to see. That should alarm every American.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A day prior, Trump bashed US media coverage that he claimed was unduly negative and therefore \u201cillegal,\u201d stoking a debate over free speech following the suspension<\/a> of comedian Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s TV show by ABC<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey\u2019ll take a great story and they\u2019ll make it bad. See, I think it\u2019s really illegal, personally,\u201d Trump, who has sued multiple major news organisations this year, told reporters gathered in the Oval Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 79-year-old Republican, an avid television watcher, chiefly focused his diatribe on US television networks, reiterating a claim that coverage of him and his administration is \u201c97 per cent bad\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also defended the head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Brendan Carr, whose threats against broadcasters have sparked a national debate over free speech and caused some unease even among Republicans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a>Trump terms his negative media coverage \u2018illegal\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n