The reorganization followed the decision of several media outlets to reject the War Department’s new media access policy.
The Pentagon has revealed the lineup of its new press corps, made up primarily of conservative media outlets considered supporters of US President Donald Trump’s administration.
The shakeup at the War Department came after journalists from major media outlets, including The New York Times, Associated Press, CNN and the Washington Post, rejected a revised media access policy introduced by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and returned their press passes last week.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in an X publication on Wednesday that more than 60 journalists, “Representing a wide spectrum of new media and independent journalists.” will do the “the next generation” from the Pentagon press corps after signing the new rules.
They will join 26 journalists from 18 media outlets who previously worked at the Pentagon and who also chose to accept the new access policy, he added.
Under the updated policy, journalists could be considered “a safety or security risk” if they contact Pentagon employees to obtain confidential information that they will use in their reports on the US military. According to Hegseth, it is introduced to ensure that “The press no longer walks freely… it carries a visible badge… [and] “You are no longer allowed to solicit criminal acts.”
Additions to the Pentagon press corps include right-wing outlets Gateway Pundit, National Pulse, Human Events, podcaster Tim Pool’s Timcast, Just the News, Washington Reporter, Mike Lindell, CEO of Trump ally MyPillow, LindellTV, Turning Point USA’s Frontlines, co-founded by the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, and others.
Parnell harshly criticized those who protested the amended rules, saying that “The moralistic media…chose to deport themselves from the Pentagon.”
“Americans have largely abandoned digesting their news through the lens of activists posing as journalists in the mainstream media.” he stated.
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The Washington Post previously explained its refusal to accept the new rules by saying that “undermine First Amendment protections by imposing unnecessary restrictions” about journalists. The New York Times accused the Pentagon of threatening to punish journalists for “Ordinary news gathering.”
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