For this item, I turn it over to my Poynter colleague, Angela Fu.
Major news outlets including The Washington Post, Reuters and The Atlantic announced Monday that their journalists will not sign the Pentagon’s revised media policy over concerns that it violates the First Amendment.
The list of outlets refusing to sign the policy includes both mainstream publications like NPR, The Associated Press, HuffPost and The Wall Street Journal, as well as conservative outlets like Newsmax and The Washington Times. If implemented, the new rules — which Newsmax called “unnecessary and onerous” — would effectively prevent journalists reporting in the Pentagon from participating in basic newsgathering.
The new policy warns that reporters who “solicit” Department of Defense employees to disclose nonpublic information that has not been approved for release could lose their press credentials. The new rules’ breadth and inclusion of unclassified information mark a significant departure from past policy.
“Reuters is bound by its commitment to accurate, impartial and independent news,” a Reuters spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement. “We also steadfastly believe in the press protections afforded by the U.S. Constitution, the unrestricted flow of information and journalism that serves the public interest without fear or favor. The Pentagon’s new restrictions erode these fundamental values.”
CNN, The New York Times, The Guardian and Breaking Defense also previously stated that they would not sign the policy.
Reporters who do not sign the new policy will be required to turn in their press passes and clear out of the Pentagon by 5 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, The Guardian reported. So far, only conservative outlet One America News Network has said its reporters will sign the policy.
The Pentagon did not answer a question asking if any other outlets had signed the policy. Chief spokesperson Sean Parnell wrote in an emailed statement that the policy amounts to “common sense media procedures.” On X, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth responded to statements from outlets refusing to sign the new policy with a waving hand emoji.
“The policy does not ask for them to agree, just to acknowledge that they understand what our policy is. This has caused reporters to have a full blown meltdown, crying victim online,” Parnell wrote. “We stand by our policy because it's what's best for our troops and the national security of this country.”
In a statement posted to X last week, the Pentagon Press Association said that while they “acknowledge and appreciate” that the Pentagon is not requiring journalists to express agreement with the policy, the rules still threaten to revoke credentials from reporters exercising their First Amendment rights.
“(T)he Pentagon is still asking us to affirm in writing our ‘understanding’ of policies that appear designed to stifle a free press and potentially expose us to prosecution for simply doing our jobs,” the statement reads.
Under Hegseth, the Pentagon has already taken several measures to restrict the press, including taking away dedicated workspaces from certain outlets and severely limiting the physical areas in which reporters are allowed to access without an escort. On Sept. 18, it released a set of media guidelines that many interpreted as requiring journalists to get approval from the Pentagon before publishing nonpublic information.
After zero journalists agreed to the September guidelines, the Pentagon released a revised version Oct. 6 that clarified that the rules against releasing nonpublic information applied to employees, not journalists. Still, First Amendment experts and press freedom advocates said the new guidelines were just as dangerous. They were so broad that journalists who asked sources routine questions or put out general calls for tips could be labeled “security risks” and lose their press credentials.
“This latest version has escalated the threats more around the act of reporting itself,” one expert told Poynter. “Rather than this overt censoring of journalists, which was how the initial version appeared, it has morphed into this effort to intimidate both journalists and government employees as well.”
Oliver on Weiss
HBO’s John Oliver slammed CBS News for naming Free Press founder and former New York Times opinion writer Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief. Oliver noted Weiss’ lack of experience in TV news, but that wasn’t his main objection.
During the latest episode of his “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” he said, “I wouldn’t want anyone who led a pure opinion outlet, not even one that I happened to agree with, to suddenly be running CBS News. But it is especially alarming to have someone doing it who has spent years putting out work that, in my opinion, is at best irresponsible and at worst deeply misleading.”
Oliver was especially critical of David Ellison, the new chief executive of Paramount Skydance, the owner of CBS. Oliver said, “It is not just about Bari Weiss being at CBS, it’s about the fact that CBS is now under the control of someone who thinks that she, and her editorial sensibility, make her a good fit for the job. And who, incidentally, is reportedly preparing a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, home of CNN and — uh oh — HBO. Which isn’t ideal, although I’ve gotta say, if what he likes about Bari is that she forces him to have hard conversations that get a bit uncomfortable, maybe he’ll like this.”
Oliver continued, “But the thing is, it’s not just about Ellison either. Again, he’s just the latest in a string of billionaires who have taken over our journalistic institutions, from the Washington Post to the L.A. Times, and started making worrying changes. And whatever complaints I might have had with their coverage before, and I have had plenty, my solution would never have been this. Because when these takeovers get announced, it’s easy to think, ‘Well, thank goodness there are other outlets that aren’t under some billionaire’s influence.’ And that is true, because there is always another. Until there suddenly isn’t.”
Oliver then added something all of us should be paying attention to at CBS News: “It is worth keeping an eye out for subtle changes there. Because while I’m sure many of CBS’ good journalists will continue to do good work, if you start seeing people resigning or getting fired or you start seeing stories that seem off in some way — especially if it involves the left going too far on a topic Bari Weiss cares about — it’s worth asking yourself why that might be. Because unfortunately, the much bigger answer might be that a billionaire has chosen to inject contrarian, right-leaning opinion journalism into an American icon.”
The final episode
After 16 years and nearly 1,700 episodes, comedian Marc Maron ended his “WTF” podcast with a very special guest: former President Barack Obama. Obama asked the big question: “How are you feeling about this whole thing?”
Maron said, “I feel OK. I feel like I’m sort of ready for the break, but there is sort of a fear there, of what do I do now? I’m busy.”
He added with a laugh, “But, not unlike your job … I’ve got a lot of people who over the last 16 years have grown to rely on me.”
Maron had not revealed who his final guest was going to be, so listeners didn’t know until the episode dropped. Maron said in his introduction to the podcast, “It became clear that the guest we needed to have was singular in that he could address the importance of this being our final episode, but also address how we move through the world we’re living in, as frightening as it is.”
The interview with Obama was officially episode No. 1,686. Maron’s show debuted on Sept. 1, 2009.
The New York Times’ Reggie Ugwu has an excellent Q&A with Maron: “Marc Maron on the End of His Landmark Podcast.”
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Media tidbits
Hot type
- Speaking of Diane Keaton, I thought I would make this the lone Hot Type item because it’s the best-written thing I read all day Monday. It’s The Ringer’s Brian Phillips with “Diane Keaton Was Effortlessly Original.”
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