The New York Times filed a lawsuit against the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell for allegedly violating the First and Fifth Amendments with their press restrictions.
“If allowed to stand, that policy will upend the longstanding and ‘healthy adversarial tension between the government, which may seek to keep its secrets’ and ‘the press, which may endeavor to” report them, Alexander Bickel, The Morality of Consent at 79 (1977), and will deprive the public of vital information about the United States military and its leadership,” claims the publication.
The Pentagon requires the media “to sign a 21-page form that sets restrictions on journalistic activities, including requests for story tips and inquiries to Pentagon sources.”
Not agreeing to the standards could lead to a reporter losing their Pentagon Facility Alternate Credentials (PFACs).
“Department officials with unbridled discretion to immediately suspend and ultimately revoke a reporter’s PFAC for engaging in lawful newsgathering, both on and off Pentagon grounds, or for reporting any information Department officials have not approved is neither reasonable nor viewpoint-neutral,” according to the lawsuit. “It is exactly the type of speech- and press-restrictive scheme that the Supreme Court and D.C. Circuit have recognized violates the First Amendment.”
The New York Times argues that the policy violates the First Amendment because it prevents journalists from doing their job: “ask questions of government employees and gather information to report stories that take the public beyond official pronouncements.”
Look, I’m a free speech purist. No restrictions.
I’m also not stupid.
These are the same people who never asked questions about President Joe Biden.
These are the same people who didn’t question anything that came from the Biden administration.
These are the same people who ate up anything coming from the administration and don’t you dare question anything!
Now they want to do their job?
We all know that they’re out to get President Donald Trump and his administration.
They’re not aggressive with Trump and the administration because they want to do their jobs.
These reporters are aggressive because they want to destroy the administration.
I mean, it’s even to the point that someone like me who has never voted for Trump (or Obama, Clinton, Biden, or Harris…I vote libertarian) hardly ever believes anything coming from the legacy media concerning Trump.
Should the press be aggressive with the government? Yes…no matter what party holds the office or Congressional majority.
The fact is that they pick and choose and that is why people, including a free speech purist like me, don’t care what they have to say.
And it’s a shame because there are some decent reporters out there who perform their job well whether a Democrat or Republican holds the office.
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