NEW YORK — The New York Times filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Pentagon, attempting to overturn new rules imposed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that have led to most mainstream media outlets being banished from the building.
The newspaper said the rules violate the Constitution’s freedom of speech and due process provisions, since they give Hegseth the power to determine on his own whether a reporter should be banned. Outlets such as the Times walked out of the Pentagon rather than agree to the rules as a condition for getting a press credential.
The Pentagon press room now includes mostly conservative outlets that agreed to the rules, and representatives from those organizations participated Tuesday in a briefing with Hegseth’s press secretary.
“The policy is an attempt to exert control over reporting the government dislikes,” said Charles Stadtlander, spokesman for the Times. The newspaper filed the case with the U.S. District Court in Washington.
The Pentagon had no immediate response to a request for comment on lawsuit.
Many still reporting on Pentagon from afar
Despite losing credentials, outlets denied access to the Pentagon have continued reporting on the military. They have led coverage this past week on stories that questioned Hegseth’s role in military strikes on boats with alleged drug smugglers, including one targeted with a second strike after survivors were spotted.
Nevertheless, the Times said denial of access to the Pentagon restricts its reporters’ ability to do their job. Because the new policy gives Hegseth the right to oust reporters working on stories he does not like, even if those stories do not involve classified information, it has a chilling effect on journalists, the newspaper argued in court papers. Lawyers are also concerned similar restrictions will be put in place at other federal agencies.
The Pentagon has argued that the policy imposes “common sense” rules that protect the military from release of information that could put them in danger. During her briefing Tuesday, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said the legacy media outlets are not missed.
“The American people don’t trust these propagandists because they stopped telling the truth,” Wilson said. “So, we’re not going to beg these old gatekeepers to come back and we’re not rebuilding a broken model just to appease them.”
Outlets that reach millions barred
Several news outlets whose coverage reaches millions of people, including the Associated Press, Washington Post and CNN, asked the Pentagon for access to Wilson’s briefing. They were denied and told it was for credentialed press only.
The Times is citing Wilson’s “propagandists” comment as evidence that the Pentagon is discriminating against reporters for their points of view. That is the same argument that the AP is making to stop President Trump from denying access to its journalists to events in the Oval Office and Air Force One. The AP case is currently wending its way through the federal court system.
Times lawyers say they believe their viewpoint discrimination case is stronger because Times reporters no longer have credentials to enter the Pentagon. AP journalists are able to enter the White House, but not to some specific newsmaking events there.
The Times’ case is being filed on behalf of the newspaper and one of its reporters, Julian E. Barnes. The Defense Department, Hegseth and chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell are named as defendants.
In a statement, the Pentagon Press Assn., a group that represents journalists who cover the agency, said it was encouraged by the Times’ “effort to step up and defend press freedom. The Defense Department’s attempt to limit how credentialed reporters gather the news and what information they may publish is antithetical to a free and independent press and prohibited by the First Amendment.”
While going it alone in its lawsuit in order to move quickly, the Times said it would welcome the support of other news organizations.
Bauder writes for the Associated Press.
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