Hegseth's fear of the press won't stop its work

By Nia-Malika Henderson / Bloomberg Opinion

More than 100 Pentagon reporters cleaned out their workspaces and turned in their press credentials this week, refusing to sign a restrictive reporting policy advanced by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. Hegseth, dogged by reports highlighting his unfitness for the job, wants to control the flow of information from the department he leads. He wants the press to be his stenographer, rather than the free and independent fourth estate.

The defiant move by the press is a much-needed and united show of force by the media, whose independence has been under assault by the Trump administration and which has too often ceded ground; see the CBS and ABC settlements. Some 30 media outlets, including Bloomberg News, have declined to sign the new Pentagon policy, guaranteeing that the government’s largest federal department will be harder to cover. Even conservative outlets Newsmax and Fox News — Hegseth’s old employer — declined to sign the new policy. One America News Network, a Trump-friendly network, did agree to the new restrictions.

The pledge, outlined in a 21-page policy, would require reporters to agree not to solicit any information, classified or otherwise, that hasn’t been authorized for release. In other words, reporters would be barred from doing their jobs, which is to inform the public about what their government is doing.

Americans have every right to know how the department’s $1 trillion in taxpayer money is being spent. They have every right to know whether the version of events coming from top officials is true or simply spin. The Pentagon’s worrisome attempts to restrict reporters’ access are the latest evidence that oft-made promises of transparency by the Trump administration are empty. What this administration wants is an echo chamber. The Pentagon wants the American public and the world to hear only its version of events, and to shroud decisions of war and peace in secrecy.

https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comment-hegseths-fear-of-the-press-wont-stop-its-work/