New York Times sues Defense Secretary Hegseth over media policy : NPR

Members of the Pentagon press corps leave the Pentagon as a group after submitting their credentials on Wednesday, October 15, 2025. Thursday, The New York Times sued the Department of Defense and Secretary Pete Hegseth over his new media policy.

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THE New York Times Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth continued Thursday regarding the Pentagon’s new policy that requires media outlets to pledge not to collect information unless defense officials formally authorize its publication.

This policy, unveiled in Septemberincludes prohibiting accredited journalists from reporting even unclassified material that is not expressly approved for public consumption by the Defense Department’s top brass. THE Times said the Pentagon policy represents an attempt to force journalists to rely solely on officials for information involving the military and would illegally allow them to be punished for failing to do so.

THE Times – and NPR – are among the organizations that have chosen to give up their press passes rather than accept this policy.

NPR is seeking comment from the Pentagon on the new complaint.

Despite giving up their Pentagon credentials, news outlets have aggressively reported on military actions, including U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and Venezuelan ships, news reports that contradict official narratives.

More recently, an inspector general found that Hegseth’s private conversations with Signal with senior government officials about impending U.S. airstrikes in Yemen could have put U.S. troops in danger. The discussions were first revealed by The Atlantic editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, whose number was mistakenly added to the chat. (Katherine Maher, CEO of NPR, is chair of the board of directors of the Signal Foundation, which oversees Signal.)

In his court documents, the Times argues that Hegseth’s actions violate constitutional protections of free speech and freedom of the press.

“This is exactly the type of speech and press restriction scheme that the Supreme Court and Washington Circuit have found to violate the First Amendment,” the brief states. “The policy abandons control by independent news agencies for the benefit of the public.“

The newspaper also alleges that the Pentagon violated its journalists’ constitutional rights to due process by making a decision on press passes out of the blue and without any opportunity to appeal.

In his files, the Times The legal team cites a decision from Trump’s first term, in which the White House revoked then-Playboy The permanent press of journalist Brian Karem ignores his coverage. A federal judge’s ruling forced the administration to reverse that decision. The White House also had to return the pass of Jim Acosta, then CNN White House correspondent.

The restrictions Hegseth put in place parallel those taken during the second Trump administration against media outlets whose coverage he opposed.

THE New York Times is represented by free speech lawyer Theodore J. Boutrous. He is one of the lawyers representing NPR in its lawsuit against the White House about Trump’s executive order banning all federal subsidies to NPR and PBS. A key hearing in the case will take place Thursday afternoon in Washington, DC.

In May, Hegseth revealed new rules limiting the ability of journalists to move through many parts of the Pentagon without a formally designated escort — a change that broke years of tradition between Democratic and Republican administrations.

Then, in September, came a policy requiring news organizations to sign a declaration that they would not disclose — or even seek — unauthorized material. Hegseth posted on social media: “It’s not the ‘press’ that runs the Pentagon, it’s the people that do.

Hegseth is a veteran and former Fox News host who gained the attention of President Trump through his television presence. Fox was among the media outlets whose defense correspondents banded together to oppose the policy – ​​and who therefore left the building.

Neil Wallace reports that the Fox News team cleared the contents of its broadcast booth in the press area of ​​the Pentagon, Wednesday, October 15, 2025 in Washington.

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“The Pentagon’s press access policy is illegal because it gives government officials unlimited power over who gets credentialed and who doesn’t, something the First Amendment prohibits,” Gabe Rottman, vice president of the Reporters Committee on Freedom of the Press, said in a statement. “The public needs independent journalism and the journalists who bring it to the Pentagon in an era of increased scrutiny of the department’s actions.”

This week, the Pentagon officially welcomed a new press corps willing to abide by its policies: correspondents and media outlets who adhere to a pro-Trump bias or peddle conspiracies.

“We’re glad to have you,” Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said. told the new arrivals on Tuesday. “The old media chose to kick themselves out of this building. And if you look at the numbers, it’s pretty clear why no one followed them. National trust in these big media outlets has dropped to 28 percent, the lowest on record. The American people don’t trust these propagandists because they’ve stopped telling the truth.”

Among the new arrivals: the far-right political activist Laura Loomer who often has Trump’s ear; the Gateway Pundit, who declared bankrupt to avoid liability in the event of judgment in defamation suits; and LindellTV, backed by MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, who supported Trump’s misleading claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential elections.

Several of the new arrivals posted separate photos on social media, saying they were told they had been given the former Pentagon office of a Washington Post journalist. At least one corrected after being mocked online, claiming he had received incorrect information. He did not specify whether this incorrect information came from Pentagon officials.

Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik. It was edited by associate business editor Emily Kopp and editors Gerry Holmes and Vickie Walton-James. In keeping with NPR’s protocol for reporting on itself, no company official or NPR news officer reviewed this story before it was publicly released.