Many news agencies and journalists are refusing to cooperate with the new rules set by the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, which state that they cannot report on anything not approved by Pentagon officials. This new rule was put in place on October 15, 2025, and led to many journalists handing in their press badges and walking out of the Pentagon.
It is reported that journalists believe they are being restricted in what they can report to the public, which many argue go against their First Amendment right of Freedom of the Press. On top of this, David Schulz discussed with PBS News that no breaches of information have occurred for these rules to have been set in place.
Prior to this new rule, the AP reports that Defense Secretary Hegseth only held two press conferences and had been limiting press access in the Pentagon in the ten months since President Donald Trump has been in office.
Despite many major journalism agencies refusing to sign, from both liberal and conservative presses, there are still a small number of those complying, including foreign and independent press agencies. News agencies like CNN, NBC, Fox News, and Reuters just to name a few have decided to cover military news independently as a result of the new mandate.
Journalists have a long history of being the ‘watchdogs’ of the government. Their presence in tax-funded agencies, like the Pentagon, is so important because they inform the public of what their money is going towards. According to the News Literacy Project, the budget of the Pentagon is roughly $1 trillion dollars.
