Major media outlets, including CNN, ABC, CBS, Fox News, and NBC, refused to sign the Pentagon’s new press policy by Tuesday’s deadline.

​

This decision poses a potential risk of losing Pentagon Press Passes and access to all U.S. military facilities

.

Fox News, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s former employer, joined ABC News, CNN, CBS News, and NBC News on Tuesday in a joint statement, stating the new requirements “would restrict journalists’ ability to keep the nation and the world informed of important national security issues.”

​

Hegseth presented the policy last month, requiring both classified and unclassified information to be approved by an authorizing official before publication. “The policy is without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections,” the organizations said. The policy is being widely condemned by various other news organizations.

​

Conservative network One America News was the only outlet that signed the agreement. The channel’s host, Matt Gaetz, said the pro-Trump outlet is “happy to follow these reasonable conditions. “

​

”Pentagon access is a privilege, not a right,” Hegseth defended in a post on X. 

Pentagon Spokesperson Sean Parnell told The Washington Post, “We stand by our policy because it’s what’s best for our troops and the national security of this country.”

​

Washington bureau chief Richard Stevenson noted that taxpayers pay nearly $1 trillion annually to the U.S. military, “the public has the right to know how the government and military are operating,” Stevenson said.

​

Major news organizations have stated that they will continue to cover the U.S. military as they have always done.