How much is too much? That is the question now being asked as further restrictions have been put on Pentagon reporters.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Pentagon recently announced new rules that anything printed, even information that has not been classified, must now be approved in advance, or the journalist revealing it could risk losing their credentials.
This sounds like overreach to me, and I am far from alone on this one. I can tell you flat out, I am going to write what I want to write, penalties be damned.
On Friday, the Pentagon released a 17-page memo on the new rules.
Within the memo, it was stated that the agency remains committed to transparency; however, “information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified.”
That is not transparency, that is state-run media, for all intents and purposes.
Hegseth then posted to X, “The ‘press’ does not run the Pentagon -- the people do.” Trump threw some gasoline on the fire, telling the media, “They give me only bad publicity or press. I mean, they’re getting a license, I would think maybe their license should be taken away.”
As long as you are printing the truth, I have no problem with it, good or bad. And I will be the first to admit that Donald Trump has been the target of biased coverage, but threatening outlets to be nice or lose their license, well, by that standard, I would be blocked just for this report alone.
We don’t do propaganda, and that is exactly what the Pentagon is now accused of promulgating.
Seth Stern, director of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, responded, “This policy operates as a prior restraint on publication, which is considered the most serious of First Amendment violations.”
He later added, “The Supreme Court has made clear for decades that journalists are entitled to lawfully obtain and publish government secrets. That is essentially the job description of an investigative journalist."
I agree with most of what Trump is doing, but I cannot get on board with this policy, period. And I am far from being alone on the right, as Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) responded, “This is so dumb that I have a hard time believing it is true. We don’t want a bunch of Pravda newspapers only touting the Government’s official position. A free press makes our country better. This sounds like more amateur hour.”
The one talking head regarding constitutional rights whom I respect very much is Jonathan Turley, and he also blasted the new rule, stating, "What they're basically saying is if you publish anything that's not in the press release, is not the official statement of the Pentagon, you could be held responsible under this policy. That is going to create a stranglehold on the free press. And the cost is too great."
I have no problem with the Pentagon tracking down leaks of classified information and holding people accountable, but this is taking things way too far, and the price of the perception alone is going to cost Republicans huge.
Dems are already attacking the president as a dictator running an authoritarian regime, and now there is a policy being put in place that mimics state-run media in communist countries. No, I won’t stand for it, and nobody in this country should, quite frankly. This policy goes against everything for which We the People stand. You want to stop leaks, then put trustworthy people in place, tighten controls, and drop the hammer on anyone found to have leaked that information, but you cannot put the clamps down on the media like this.
