Fox News, NCS and More Refuse to Comply With Defense Department Media Rules

Pete Hegseth‘s Defense Department has threatened to revoke press credentials of news organization that do not agree to restrictive new coverage rules — and says it may bar journalists who don’t agree to abide by the foundations from bodily entry to the Pentagon’s grounds. But greater than three dozen information orgs have stated they’re refusing to signal on to the necessities.

On Tuesday, in a joint assertion 5 main TV information shops — ABC News, CBS News, NCS, Fox News and NBC News — stated they weren’t agreeing to the brand new guidelines. The Pentagon has informed reporters they have to signal an settlement for the brand new guidelines by Tuesday or flip of their press passes by Wednesday.

According to the Defense Department’s press workplace, which outlined the brand new guidelines final month, reporters protecting the Pentagon should signal a pledge not to acquire or use unauthorized materials (even when the knowledge is unclassified). If they don’t, they are going to doubtlessly be barred from the Pentagon.

“Today, we join virtually every other news organization 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,” the networks stated within the assertion. “The policy is without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections. We will continue to cover the U.S. military as each of our organizations has done for many decades, upholding the principles of a free and independent press.”

The 5 networks be a part of quite a lot of different information orgs which have already stated they gained’t agree to the brand new guidelines being imposed by Hegseth, a former Fox News host. Those embody the New York Times, AP, Reuters, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and Politico, together with conservative-leaning shops like Newsmax and the Washington Examiner.

At press time, just one outlet has stated it plans to signal on to the brand new guidelines introduced by the Pentagon, which the Trump administration has is asking the “U.S. Department of War”: pro-Trump community One America News Network (OANN).

“Pete Hegseth has united the media! Fox joins the rest of legacy media in pushing back against his radical press censorship policy,” Chuck Todd, former host of NBC’s “Meet the Press” who now hosts “The Chuck ToddCast,” wrote in a post on X. “Congrats or something.”

To make sure, Fox News has pushed again in opposition to Trump’s punitive insurance policies and actions towards the press earlier than. In 2018, Fox News backed NCS’s efforts to restore Jim Acosta’s White House credentials; Trump’s White House did so shortly thereafter. (Acosta exited NCS earlier this year after Trump took workplace for a second time period.) “While we don’t condone the growing antagonistic tone by both the president and the press at recent media avails, we do support a free press, access and open exchanges for the American people,” Fox News president Jay Wallace stated in a statement on the time.

Here’s the present full listing of reports shops which have refused to signal the Pentagon’s new guidelines, as compiled by the Washington Post: