In its first briefing after the United States attacked Iran, the Pentagon welcomed photographers from news outlets including Bloomberg, The Associated Press, Getty Images, Reuters and more.
But the Pentagon has since enacted strict limits that bar access to photographers from news organizations, the latest move by the Defense Department under Secretary Pete Hegseth to restrict press access.
The Pentagon said in a statement that it made the change for photographers to use the space in the Pentagon’s briefing room “effectively.”
“Photographs from the briefings are immediately released online for the public and press to use,” the department said.
Mr. Hegseth has taken an adversarial stance toward the news media since his first days of running the Pentagon. He proposed denying access to a reporter from NBC News from the Pentagon, then removed several news organizations from their on-site workstations. Months later, he curtailed the unescorted roaming privileges of journalists within the complex.
And last fall, Mr. Hegseth presided over the adoption of new media restrictions that allow the Pentagon to determine whether reporters pose “security risks” that justify revoking their press credentials. Rather than sign the document, dozens of reporters surrendered their credentials, and a new set of largely pro-Trump commentators and influencers took their places.
The Times in December sued the Defense Department over the policy, calling it a violation of the First Amendment. In a hearing on that suit last Friday, David Schulz, a lawyer representing the Pentagon Press Association, said that before a briefing early last week, Pentagon officials invited the new press corps to attend. “And then they realized none of those people could really get the information out to TV networks and others since they didn’t have a camera,” Mr. Schulz said.
The Pentagon then requested placement of a pool camera for the major TV networks, Mr. Schulz said. The network pool camera has been at all three Pentagon briefings on the Iran war.
The Times is among the outlets whose photographers have been excluded from the latest briefings.
“As The Times has long said: there is a clear importance and public service to allowing journalists to report fully on the U.S. military,” The Times said in a statement. “This includes photojournalists, who deserve access and credentialing to attend Pentagon briefings.”
The Pentagon’s exclusion of photographers was earlier reported by The Washington Post.
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