Fox News among broadcasters refusing to sign Pentagon press pledge

Fox News, along with ABC, CBS and NBC, will not sign the Defense Department’s press policy by Tuesday’s deadline, the news networks said in a joint statement. CNN, which already said it would not sign, also joined in denouncing the new regulations.

“Today, we join virtually every other news organization in declining to agree to the Pentagon’s new requirements, which would restrict journalists’ ability to keep the nation and the world informed of important national security issues,” the networks wrote. “The policy is without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections. We will continue to cover the U.S. military as each of our organizations has done for many decades, upholding the principles of a free and independent press.”

Fox’s dissent is notable considering the Trump-friendly views of many of its opinion hosts, whose ranks previously included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The policy prohibits journalists from accessing or soliciting information the Defense Department doesn’t make available for them and revokes Pentagon press credentials from those who will not sign on. The new rules have drawn an anguished chorus of detractors across the ideological spectrum since they were announced last month.

The TV networks joined many other outlets in saying no, including The Washington Post, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, Reuters, Bloomberg News and the Atlantic. Right-wing outlets including Newsmax, the Washington Times and the Washington Examiner also declined to sign, along with a raft of defense-related trade publications. (A list of outlets’ stance on the rules is below.)

As of Tuesday afternoon, only the MAGA-friendly One America News said it will sign the policy.

The result, the Atlantic’s Nancy Youssef wrote Monday on X, is that reporters will take part in an unprecedented clearing out of the Defense Department’s gargantuan headquarters in Northern Virginia. “Starting Wednesday, for the first time since the Pentagon opened in 1943, there will be likely no major news outlets accredited to cover the [department], the one spending nearly $1 trillion of taxpayer money.”

The Pentagon Press Association, which represents the Pentagon press corps members, formally asked the Defense Department on Monday to reconsider the new rules.

“There is no need or justification for [the Pentagon] to require reporters to affirm their understanding of vague, likely unconstitutional policies as a precondition to reporting from Pentagon facilities,” the PPA said in a statement. “The Pentagon’s required acknowledgment is particularly problematic because it demands reporters to express an ‘understanding’ that harm inevitably flows from the disclosure of unauthorized information, classified or not - something everyone involved knows to be untrue.” The Defense Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Hegseth defended the new rules in a brief appearance at the White House on Tuesday with President Donald Trump. “It’s commonsense stuff, Mr. President,” he said. “We’re trying to make sure national security is respected, and we’re proud of the policy.”

In a brief exchange with the media, Trump indirectly endorsed Hegseth’s more restrictive regulations.

“You walk around the White House talking to anybody that can breathe,” he told a reporter. “But I find that when it comes to war and now our great Department of War … it bothers me to have soldiers and, even, you know, high-ranking generals walking around with you guys on their sleeve asking - because they can make a mistake, and a mistake can be tragic.”

On Tuesday, the mood at the Pentagon press facilities was grim, according to credentialed journalists who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak. Journalists emptied out their desks of items that in some cases had been accrued over decades. Networks picked up broadcasting equipment to lug back to their bureaus. Through it all, there was an air of sadness but also resilience, people said. “Everyone is united but disappointed that it’s come to this,” one reporter said.

“Most reporters just feel determined to keep doing their jobs,” another said. “It’ll make it harder for sure. But I think everyone understands this is about a defense secretary who is actually quite thin-skinned.”

“Camaraderie is still really good among the reporters,” another correspondent said. “If any press corps knows how to cope with gallows humor, it’s absolutely this one.”

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News outlets’ stances on the Pentagon’s new media rules

Signing

- One America News

Refusing to sign

- ABC News

- Air & Space Forces Magazine

- AL-Monitor

- Associated Press

- The Atlantic

- Aviation Week

- Axios

- Bloomberg News

- Breaking Defense

- C4ISRNET

- CBS News

- CNN

- Defense Daily

- Defense News

- Defense One

- The Economist

- Federal Times

- The Financial Times

- Fox News

- The Guardian

- The Hill

- HuffPost

- Military Times

- MSNBC

- NBC News

- The New York Times

- Newsmax

- NPR

- PBS Newshour

- Politico

- RealClearPolitics

- Reuters

- Task & Purpose

- USNI News

- The Wall Street Journal

- The Washington Examiner

- The Washington Post

- The Washington Times

- WTOP

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Liam Scott and Maegan Vazquez contributed to this report.