Extract from ABC News
The New York Times is suing the Pentagon. (AP: Mark Lennihan)
In short:
The New York Times has failed a lawsuit against the US Department of Defense in an effort to force the Pentagon to abandon a restrictive new press policy.
The policy requires journalists to sign a pledge to refrain from reporting information not authorised for release by the Pentagon.
The Times alleged the policy violates the rights to free speech and due process.
The New York Times is suing the US Department of Defense and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in an effort to force the Pentagon to abandon its restrictive new press policy.
The policy, enacted last month, requires journalists to acknowledge they could be branded security risks and have their Pentagon press badges revoked if they ask department employees to disclose classified and some unclassified information.
The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, also names chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell.
At least 30 news organisations chose to give up their press badges rather than sign the new policy, citing a threat to press freedoms and their ability to conduct independent news-gathering on the world's most powerful military.
In its complaint, the Times alleged the policy violated the rights to free speech and due process and that, if allowed to stand, it will "deprive the public of vital information about the United States military and its leadership".
"The policy is an attempt to exert control over reporting the government dislikes, in violation of a free press' right to seek information under their First and Fifth Amendment rights protected by the Constitution," New York Times spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander said in a statement.
New York Times reporter Julian Barnes is a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit.
The New York Times is suing Pentagon. (Reuters: Joshua Roberts)
Representatives for the Pentagon and the White House did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
The policy enacted under Mr Hegseth states that receiving or publishing sensitive information "is generally protected by the First Amendment".
However, it adds that soliciting the disclosure of such information "may weigh in the consideration of whether you pose a security or safety risk".
Credentialed reporters have traditionally been limited to unclassified spaces in the Pentagon and have worked across the hallway from the Pentagon press office, which has allowed them access to department spokespeople.
Press badges signify that they have gone through a background check.
Laura Loomer is part of the Pentagon's new press corps. (AP: Matt Rourke)
New press corps assembling at Pentagon
Since the exodus of traditional media outlets last month, the Pentagon has assembled a new press corps consisting largely of pro-Trump outlets and individuals.
They include activist Laura Loomer, LindellTV — a digital news site run by election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell — and James O'Keefe, who founded the right-wing group Project Veritas and now runs O'Keefe Media Group.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon hosted its first news briefing for the group, during which Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson took aim at the traditional press corps.
"The American people don't trust these propagandists because they stopped telling the truth," Ms Wilson told attendees.
Pentagon journalists exited en masse in October over the reporting restrictions. (AP: Kevin Wolf)
NYT action follows lawsuit by AP
The New York Times's action follows a February lawsuit by the Associated Press, which sued three senior Trump aides after the White House limited the AP's access to press gatherings.
It did so in response to the AP's decision to continue using the Gulf of Mexico's established name, while acknowledging Mr Trump's executive order renaming it the Gulf of America.
The AP alleges that the restrictions are an attempt to coerce the press into using the administration's preferred language in violation of constitutional protections for both free speech and due process.
In his April ruling, US District Judge Trevor McFadden said the AP was entitled to a preliminary injunction in its favour, but the DC Circuit in June paused that injunction while it considered the Trump administration's appeal.
Reuters
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