Common Ground: Journalists Across Political Spectrum Reject New Press Access Policy

Pentagon reporters across the political spectrum are rejecting and criticizing a new Pentagon press access policy put forward by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

From the Left: NPR (Lean Left bias) Pentagon reporter Tom Bowman authored an opinion piece detailing his 28 years of experience reporting on military affairs domestically and abroad. He said he’s reported both sides of the story “to be able to inform the public and hold the government to account.” He said that in the last 10 months of President Trump’s administration, reporters are “barely getting any information” from the Pentagon. Without transparency, Bowman wrote, “How will the American people find out what is being done at the Pentagon in their name?” He argued, “With no reporters able to ask questions, it seems the Pentagon leadership will continue to rely on slick social media posts, carefully orchestrated short videos and interviews with partisan commentators and podcasters.”

From the Right: In an opinion piece for The Hill (Center), Robby Soave (Lean Right), wrote “No one is happy about the Pentagon’s new press policy.” He argued that while Hegseth is “within his rights to forbid his own employees from leaking stories to journalists…government policy should place constraints on government employees — not on journalists, or the public.” Soave said that while it makes sense for liberals to reject the new rules in order to hold the Trump administration accountable, MAGA-friendly reporters “need to make sure the administration is fulfilling its priorities,” and therefore should also reject it. He argued that “as we transition to new media…we don’t want to create a new media environment that fails to do solid reporting or hold the government accountable.”

For Context: Over 35 mainstream media outlets across the spectrum have said they will not sign the Pentagon’s newly mandated media policy over concerns that it interferes with their rights as reporters. This includes The Associated Press (Left), The Atlantic (Left), ABC News (Lean Left), CNN (Lean Left), The Washington Post (Lean Left), The New York Times (Lean Left), Fox News (Right), Newsmax (Right), The Daily Caller (Right), The Washington Times (Lean Right) and The Washington Examiner (Lean Right). Only OANN (Right) has publicly agreed to the new policy.

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