Washington — A Pentagon policy limiting journalists’ access to the building deprives Americans of vital information about American military operations while the country is in a critical situation. In wara New York Times lawyer argued Friday in urging a judge to block the new rules.
“It is more important than ever for the public to know as much information as possible,” The Times attorney Theodore Boutros told U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman during the first hearing of the newspaper’s lawsuit against the Department of Defense.
Friedman did not immediately decide whether to order the Pentagon to return the press credentials of the journalists who… out of the building last October instead of approving the new rules. But the judge’s comments indicate he is skeptical of the main arguments in the government’s defense of the policy.
Friedman, nominated by Democratic President Bill Clinton, noted that it is “more important than ever” for Americans to hear a “diverse range of viewpoints” about the activities of the federal government and its elected leaders.
“A lot of things need to be kept tightly and securely, but openness and transparency allow members of the public to know what their government is doing,” the judge said.
Justice Department lawyer Michael Bruns said the accreditation policy reflects the government’s “compelling interest” and “legal obligation” to protect national security information.
“This is not a trivial practice,” Bruns said.
Friedman said he intends to issue “a decision as quickly as possible, because I know it is important for several reasons.”
The times He filed a lawsuit against the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in December, alleging that the accreditation policy violated journalists’ constitutional rights to freedom of expression and due process.
Times spokesman Charles Stadtlander said the US attacks on Iran — and the resulting deaths of American soldiers — “highlight the public’s right to access in-depth, impartial reporting on the details of military actions taking place as we speak.”
“Today was an important opportunity for New York Times lawyers to explain the clear importance and public service of allowing journalists to fully report on the Pentagon,” Stadtlander said in a statement.
The Pentagon’s current press staff consists mostly of conservative media outlets that have approved of the policy. Reporters from media outlets that refused to agree to the new rules, including the Associated Press, did so Continuing reports On the military personnel from outside the building.
Meanwhile, the AP is awaiting a decision from a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court of Appeals on the separate lawsuit against the Trump administration. The Associated Press claims that Trump’s team punished it by limiting its access to presidential events because the outlet did not follow the president’s lead in renaming the Gulf of Mexico.
The Pentagon said this policy imposes “common sense” rules that protect the military from disclosing national security information.
“The goal of this operation is to prevent those who pose a security risk from gaining widespread access to US military headquarters.” government lawyers wrote.
Lawyers for the Times claim the policy is intended to silence unfavorable press coverage of President Donald Trump’s administration.
“The First Amendment categorically prohibits the government from granting itself the absolute power to restrict free speech, because the mere existence of such arbitrary power could lead to self-censorship.” They wrote.
The Times says the Pentagon has applied its own rules inconsistently. The newspaper said, a Trump ally Laura Lemirea right-wing figure who agreed with the Pentagon’s policy, appears to be violating its ban on soliciting unauthorized information by promoting her own “tip line.”
The government did not object to Loomer’s “public tipline,” but concluded that the Washington Post tipline violated its policy because it supposedly “targeted” military personnel and department employees.
___
AP Media Writer David Bauder in New York contributed to this story.