Fox News joins mass rebellion over Pentagon’s ‘unprecedented’ new rules

Washington: Conservative network Fox News has joined a throng of US media outlets refusing to agree to a new set of rules for reporters covering the Pentagon, which is set to see journalists lose access to the building as soon as Thursday.

The US Department of War is requiring pass holders to sign a new document that, among other things, stipulates they cannot solicit information that has not been explicitly authorised for release by the Pentagon, potentially exposing reporters to punishment for routine journalism.

On Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT), major television news networks Fox, CNN, ABC, CBS and NBC released a joint statement confirming their reporters would not sign the new guidelines.

“Today, we join virtually every other news organisation 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,” they said.

“The policy is without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections. We will continue to cover the US military as each of our organisations has done for many decades, upholding the principles of a free and independent press.”

Murdoch-owned Fox News is the former employer of War Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was a weekend TV host before President Donald Trump picked him to lead the nation’s defence department, which the president rebranded the Department of War in September.

Major newspapers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, have also refused the terms, as have key newswire services AP, Reuters and Agence France-Presse (AFP), and public outlets such as NPR.

The conservative, pro-Trump outlet Newsmax has held out against signing the document. At least one network, One America News Network, has publicly said it would agree to the new rules.

The Atlantic’s editor, Jeffrey Goldberg – who earlier this year received sensitive details about an upcoming military strike after being mistakenly added to a Signal group chat that included Hegseth – said the policy violated First Amendment rights, and the rights of Americans who sought to know how taxpayer-funded military resources were being used.

“We fundamentally oppose the restrictions that the Trump administration is imposing on journalists who are reporting on matters of defence and national security,” he said.

The Pentagon has given pass holders until 5pm on Tuesday (8am Wednesday, AEDT) to sign up to the policy or face being kicked out of the building within 24 hours.

‘Access is a privilege’

On X, Hegseth reacted to news organisations announcing their decision by quoting their post and adding a hand-waving emoji, indicating “goodbye”.

He said the new policy, which includes clarifications about building access, would bring the Pentagon in line with other US military installations.

It would mean accredited journalists were “no longer permitted to solicit criminal acts”, Hegseth said. “Pentagon access is a privilege, not a right.”

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the department stood by its policy because it was best for US national security and the country’s troops. He said the policy did not require journalists to agree, but to acknowledge they understood it. “This has caused reporters to have a full-blown meltdown, crying victim online.”

But the Pentagon Press Association said the new document, which ran to 21 pages, contained extensive legal claims about what was allowed, and laid out “unprecedented contentions” about what is and isn’t acceptable news-gathering.

“The Pentagon certainly has the right to make its own policies, within the constraints of the law,” the alliance said.

“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.”

The association said the policy was particularly problematic because it required journalists to agree “that harm inevitably flows from the disclosure of unauthorised information, classified or not – something everyone involved knows to be untrue”. It called the situation “disturbing”.

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