A group that lobbies on behalf of Pentagon reporters on Wednesday harshly criticized new rules released by the Defense Department that could lead to the revocation of press credentials.
“Limiting the media’s ability to report on the U.S. military fails to honor the American families who have entrusted their sons and daughters to serve in it, or the taxpayers responsible for giving the department hundreds of billions of dollars a year,” a statement from the group, the Pentagon Press Association, said. There are approximately 90 journalists with credentials to cover the Pentagon.
Representatives of news organizations have been negotiating with the Pentagon since the department first released a set of new rules in a lengthy memo dated Sept. 18. The rules represent a major departure from how reporting at the Pentagon has worked for decades.
The memo said that the Pentagon was committed to transparency and accountability, but it also laid out a set of strictures that immediately drew criticism from news organizations. One of its provisions was widely interpreted as requiring reporters to seek approval from the government for their coverage. Failure to comply could lead to a revocation of press passes.
Seth Stern, director of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said at the time that the policy “operates as a prior restraint on publication which is considered the most serious of First Amendment violations.”
The agency responded on Monday with a revised policy. The new version says that approval requirements for releasing information are binding for government officials, not journalists.
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