The New York Times accused the Defense Department on Tuesday of defying a federal court ruling that had declared major parts of the department’s press rules unconstitutional.
The company said in a legal filing that the department sought to fashion an “end-run” when it issued revised media rules on Monday.
The revised policy, The Times said, was “nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to flout this court’s ruling and prevent journalists and news organizations whose editorial viewpoints defendants dislike from engaging in independent, protected news gathering and reporting at the Pentagon.”
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The filing from The Times is the latest salvo in a dispute reaching back to last October, when the Pentagon issued new rules on journalists covering the military, leading to a walkout of journalists from traditional news outlets that refused to sign the policy. The Times sued the Pentagon in December, arguing that the restrictions violated the First and Fifth Amendments. Judge Paul Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia sided with The Times on Friday.
On Monday, the department issued a revised set of restrictions that it said responded to the judge’s concerns. It also announced that it would shut down the Pentagon work space used for decades by journalists, known as “correspondents’ corridor,” and relocate them to an annex on Pentagon grounds. Any visit to the Pentagon under the new rules requires an official escort. The Pentagon has also vowed to appeal Judge Friedman’s ruling.
In his ruling, Judge Friedman ordered the Pentagon to reinstate the press passes of journalists at The Times. The Times said in the filing that its journalists had obtained the passes.
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