Several news outlets reject Pentagon’s curbs on reporting

Several news organisations, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, Newsmax and NPR, have announced that their journalists will not sign a new set of Pentagon restrictions affecting news gathering in the massive military complex.

- ERIK WEMPLE

“We fundamentally oppose the restrictions that the Trump administration is imposing on journalists who are reporting on matters of defence and national security,” Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, said in a statement Monday announcing that the outlet’s staff would not sign the Pentagon document. “The requirements violate our First Amendment rights, and the rights of Americans who seek to know how taxpayer-funded military resources and personnel are being deployed”

The 21-page Pentagon document lays out a number of requirements at odds with freedom of press protections, according to lawyers representing news organisations. One is a provision stating that journalists could be deemed a “security risk” based on several considerations, including whether they disclose classified or even unclassified information without the Pentagon’s authorisation. Media lawyers worry that the stricture could expose reporters to punishment for engaging in routine reporting.

The document replaces a simpler, one-page form that outlined access limitations for journalists, according to the Pentagon Press Association.