‘Goodbye’: Hegseth Shows Legacy Media Outlets The Door Amid Revolt Against New Pentagon Press Policy

A growing list of news organizations with access to Pentagon briefings have formally rejected a new Defense Department (or Dept of War) policy that would require journalists to sign a pledge promising not to seek unauthorized materials and limiting their access to certain areas unless accompanied by an official. In essence it’s part of the continuing crackdown on leaks.

But now there’s a full-on, very public revolt against the policy introduced last month by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has himself been thrust into the center of controversy since being named Pentagon chief due to the embarrassing Yemen group chat Signal episode earlier in the Trump administration.

Outlets have been told to sign the pledge by Tuesday at 5 pm or surrender their press credentials within 24 hours, after weeks ago the new policy was introduced.

Establishment media outlets have also been frustrated after long-accredited media outlets were forced to vacate their assigned Pentagon workspaces under what officials described as an “annual media rotation program” – which happened similarly at the White House where independent media, podcasters, and nontraditional media figures have been given access and sometimes even priority. 

Among those which have made clear they are not signing the policy are The Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN, The Atlantic, Politico, The Hill, The Guardian, Reuters, the Associated Press, NPR, HuffPost, Breaking Defense, and others.

Conservative outlet Newsmax has also made clear it is not signing. “We believe the requirements are unnecessary and onerous and hope that the Pentagon with review the matter further,” Newsmax said in a statement. Notably, Fox News hasn’t revealed its stance.

Executive editor of The Washington Post, Matt Murray, wrote a scathing critique of the policy as a violation of freedoms guaranteed to the press as spelled out in the Constitution. 

“The proposed restrictions undercut First Amendment protections by placing unnecessary constraints on gathering and publishing information,” Murray stated on X. “We will continue to report vigorously and fairly on Pentagon and government activities.”

And The New York Times has said that the new Hegseth policy severely limits journalists’ ability to cover the US military, which “is funded by nearly $1 trillion in taxpayer dollars annually.” The outlet said that “the public has a right to know how the government and military are operating.”

This is all well and true, and yet these MSM gatekeepers would have more of a leg to stand on if they hadn’t already long proven themselves by and large mere pro-war stenographers of official government narratives time and again. This was especially bad in the wars of the GWOT era, from Afghanistan to Iraq to Libya to Obama’s massively expensive covert war in Syria.

The media loves to fawn over military commanders and ‘anon sources’ which they already agree with, from hawkish pro-Israel, pro-Ukraine stances, to regime change operations abroad in places like Syria or Libya. That’s when criticism from the press goes out the window.

Hegseth responded on social media to this MSM media exit with a dismissive wave emoji directed at the outlets’ statements. He subsequently posted a list titled “Press Credentialing FOR DUMMIES,” outlining new restrictions such as visible badge requirements and a prohibition on “soliciting criminal acts.”

https://t.co/wnTQiHJZyC

— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) October 13, 2025

Adding insult to injury, he also reshared a cartoon mocking The Atlantic as a crying baby. Now that it has an ‘adversary’ heading up the Pentagon, perhaps the press will finally grow more critical of whatever ‘anonymous military and/or intelligence officials’ tell them?