A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has blocked a Pentagon policy that would have restricted what journalists can report about the U.S. military, ruling in favor of The New York Times in a case framed as a defense of press freedom. The policy, unveiled last September, required news organizations to promise they would not collect information unless the Department of Defense formally authorized its release. It applied not only to classified material but also to reporting on unclassified information without Pentagon approval.
The measure drew sharp criticism from press freedom advocates and prompted several outlets to surrender their Pentagon press credentials rather than comply. NPR was among the organizations that turned in its passes but has continued to report actively on Pentagon affairs. The New York Times filed suit in December against the Department of Defense, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, saying the policy violated the First Amendment and would prevent the public from learning important details about the military and its leadership.
U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman ruled late Friday for the Times, saying the First Amendment protects the press’s ability to publish information in the public interest without prior official prohibition. He wrote that the founders saw a free press and an informed citizenry as essential to national security and warned against government suppression of political speech.
A Times spokesperson, Charlie Stadtlander, said the decision was a welcome reaffirmation of the independent media’s constitutional rights and the public’s right to know how government and the military operate. Parnell, the Pentagon spokesman, said on social media that the department disagrees with the ruling and intends to file an immediate appeal.
Disclosure: This story was written by NPR Congress Editor Jason Breslow and edited by Managing Editor Gerry Holmes and Deputy Managing Editor Desiree Hicks. Under NPR’s protocol for reporting on itself, no NPR corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before publication.