The Pentagon recently issued a memo aimed at journalists that states “information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified.”
The Sept. 19 memo states that journalists who publish unauthorized material could have their press credentials revoked, effectively banning them from military installations, including the Pentagon.
The National Press Foundation condemns these limits as an affront to independent journalism. The demand for prior approval before receiving even non-classified information is a condition that is wholly objectionable and unacceptable.
“Freedom of the press is enshrined in the First Amendment because democracy simply does not function without watchdog journalism holding powerful people and institutions to account,” said NPF President Anne Godlasky. “Reporting only government-approved messages is not reporting. This flies in the face of our country’s very foundation and threatens democracy.”
The Pentagon’s action is especially regrettable since it has long welcomed early-career Washington journalists to its briefing room as part of NPF’s Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship, a program that has thrived for nearly 40 years. With every visit, Pentagon press officers and the resident press corps have noted the history of trust that has bound both parties in the effort to produce responsible journalism.
These measures break that trust. We call for them to be rescinded.
NPF joins with newsrooms – such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters – and fellow journalism support organizations, such as the National Press Club, Investigative Reporters and Editors and Society for Professional Journalists, in condemning the change in policy.
The move comes less than eight months after the Pentagon removed The New York Times, NPR, NBC News and Politico from Pentagon offices, replacing them with right-leaning newspapers and a left-leaning organization that didn’t cover the Pentagon (NY Post, One America, Breitbart and HuffPost). It also comes just days after Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and a judge tossed a $15 billion lawsuit Trump filed against The New York Times, the latest in a series of disputes with news organizations.
