Fox News declines to sign Pentagon's new press policy
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Oct. 9. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Fox News, the former employer of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, on Tuesday joined a chorus of news outlets refusing to sign an agreement with the Pentagon that could limit journalists' rights to gather or report information not officially authorized for release.
Why it matters: It's a huge rebuke of the Pentagon's efforts to silence the press. In addition to Fox News, other conservative-leaning outlets, including Newsmax and the Washington Times, have also indicated they won't sign the pledge.
- News outlets have until 5pm ET to sign and acknowledge the new press rules, or risk having their press passes revoked, the Pentagon said.
Zoom in: "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," Fox News said in a joint statement Tuesday alongside ABC News, CBS News, CNN, and NBC News.
- "The policy is without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections. We will 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."
Zoom out: Nearly every major national news outlet — NPR, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, The Atlantic, the Associated Press, Axios, Politico, The Guardian and many others — has said their journalists will not sign.
- So far only one outlet, the conservative cable network One America News (OAN), indicated that it planned to sign the pledge.
The big picture: Free press groups have overwhelmingly condemned the measure, arguing it could chill independent reporting.
- Defense press groups have urged their members not to sign.
- "The Pentagon certainly has the right to make its own policies, within the constraints of the law," the Pentagon Press Association said in a Monday statement.
- "There is no need or justification, however, for it to require reporters to affirm their understanding of vague, likely unconstitutional policies as a precondition to reporting from Pentagon facilities."
