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press freedom
As Deadline Nears, News Outlets Have No Plans to Sign 'Flatly Unconstitutional' Pentagon Press Policy
The policy unveiled last month would bar reporters from seeking or reporting information that isn't explicitly authorized by the Trump administration.
Oct 14, 2025
News outlets that cover the US Department of Defense have until 5:00 pm Tuesday to sign an agreement put forward by the Pentagon last month that bars journalists from reporting any information that hasn't been explicitly authorized by the Trump administration—but several major organizations were resolute in stating they would not be agreeing to the terms.
Outlets including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Atlantic, NPR, and the trade publication Breaking Defense were among those that released statements on Monday saying they would not be signing the agreement released last month, which says journalists could be deemed a "safety or security risk" if they ask Pentagon personnel for sensitive information for reporting purposes.
Since the Department of Defense does not hold regular news briefings, many journalists who report on national security issues use their publications or social media accounts to call for tips from DOD personnel—a practice that would be treated as suspicious under the new policy and could limit outlets' access.
The Pentagon has said outlets and reporters who don't sign the document released last month will have 24 hours to turn in their press credentials—but many organizations suggested Monday they will continue reporting on the US military without credentials rather than signing.
Richard Stevenson, Washington Bureau chief for the Times, said in a statement posted on X that the new policy "threatens to punish [reporters] for ordinary news gathering protected by the First Amendment," and noted that the Pentagon's budget amounts to nearly $1 trillion in taxpayer money annually.
"The public has a right to know how the government and military are operating," said Stevenson.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has claimed the DOD is now called the Department of War, responded to the Times' statement and those of a number of other outlets with only a "hand waving" emoji.
It was the response Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray got when he said the newspaper "will continue to vigorously and fairly report on the policies and positions of the Pentagon and officials across the government."
Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic—who was inadvertently added to a Pentagon Signal chat earlier this year and was sent messages regarding US plans to bomb Yemen—also said the new policy violates journalists' "First Amendment rights, and the rights of Americans who seek to know how taxpayer-funded resources and personnel are being deployed," while HuffPost editor-in-chief Whitney Snyder said the new restrictions are "flatly unconstitutional" and are "clearly aimed at snuffing out actual news-gathering at the nation’s largest and best-funded federal department.”
Right-wing outlets including The Washington Times and Newsmax, which called the new requirements "unnecessary and onerous," have also said they won't sign the new policy.
“Newsmax has no plans to sign the letter,” the network told the Times Monday. “We are working in conjunction with other media outlets to resolve the situation."
The new policy was unveiled months after Hegseth's office removed four news outlets from their long-held workspaces in the Pentagon, replacing them with right-wing One America News Network—which has agreed to the restrictions—and Breitbart News.
The DOD has also limited journalists' access to the building, barring them from most hallways without an official escort—a departure from decades of established rules that allowed reporters to travel through most of the Pentagon, except secure areas, without restrictions.
In addition to stifling the free speech of journalists, said the Pentagon Press Association (PPA) last week, the new policy also "conveys an unprecedented message of intimidation to everyone within the DOD," even those who share "entirely unclassified" information with reporters.
The restrictions warn "against any unapproved interactions with the press and even [suggest] it's criminal to speak without express permission—which plainly, it is not."
The PPA emphasized Monday that after pledging to oversee "the most transparent Department of Defense in history," the Trump administration has spent "an inordinate amount of time... systematically limiting access to information about the US military."
"Our members did nothing to create this disturbing situation," said the PPA. "Reporting by the Pentagon press corps involves issues that matter not just to the public, but also to the well-being of the soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and guardians who protect America on a daily basis. Their potential expulsion from the Pentagon should be a concern to all."
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'Unconstitutional, Un-American, and Wrong': Journalist Mario Guevara to Be Deported to El Salvador Friday
"Mario's treatment should terrify any person in this country that cares about a free press," said an ACLU attorney.
Oct 02, 2025
Journalist Mario Guevara's family and lawyers said Thursday that the award-winning Spanish-language journalist is set to be deported from the United States to his native El Salvador on Friday morning.
The announcement comes after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday declined to block a final order of removal from the Board of Immigration Appeals. The ACLU said in a statement that Guevara's wife and three children were not allowed to say goodbye to the journalist, who was transferred to a Louisiana facility ahead of his deportation after being held in a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) center in Georgia for over 100 days.
"Words cannot begin to describe the loss and devastation my family feels. I am in utter shock and disbelief the government has punished my father for simply doing his life’s work of journalism," said his son Oscar Guevara, who also shared an update in Spanish on his father's Facebook account.
"My father should have never had to face over 100 days in detention," Oscar Guevara continued. "He is the center of our family. He is the reason our home feels like home. To me, he's my rock, and I don't know what life without him here will look like now that he will be deported."
"When I was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2021, it was my dad who centered me, who drove me to my medical appointments, and who lifted me up," he added. "Now, I will have to manage my healthcare on my own, and live thousands of miles away separated from him. My family has been torn apart for no good reason, and I can only hope that we can one day be reunited."
Guevara has covered immigration in the Atlanta area for two decades. He was arrested in June while reporting on a "No Kings" protest in Georgia. The local charges against him were dropped, but he has remained in ICE custody in Folkston, despite having work authorization and a path to a green card through his son.
The reporter's battle to remain in the United States has played out as ICE works to deliver on President Donald Trump's promise of mass deportations and his adminstration cracks down on criticism from journalists, comedians, and more. Press freedom and immigrant rights advocates have sounded the alarm about his case.
"The government kept Mario unlawfully detained for weeks because of his vital reporting on law enforcement activity. His deportation is a devastating and tragic outcome for a father and celebrated journalist," said Scarlet Kim, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU, one of the groups representing Guevara in federal court.
"Journalists should not have to fear government retaliation, including prolonged detention, for reporting on government activity, and showing up to work should not result in your family being torn apart," added Kim. "Mario's treatment should terrify any person in this country that cares about a free press."
Freedom of the Press Foundation is among the groups that have been demanding his release. The organization's director of advocacy, Seth Stern, said Thursday that "Mario Guevara was ripped from his family and community because the Trump administration punishes journalists to protect its own power."
"The only thing that journalists like Guevara threaten is the government's chokehold on information it doesn't want the public to know. That's why he's being deported and why federal agents are assaulting and arresting journalists around the country," Stern continued. "The full impact on our freedom of speech may never be known. But what is certain is that Guevara's deportation sends a chilling message to other journalists: Tell the truth, and the state will come for you."
"This is unconstitutional, un-American, and wrong," he added. "It's an assault on the First Amendment, and it won't stop until we all fight back by speaking out."
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Can Public Outrage and Protest Save Journalist Mario Guevara Like It Did Jimmy Kimmel?
"Our opposition and upset over Jimmy Kimmel being taken off air have led to Kimmel coming back. Let's organize that much noise for reporters like Mario Guevara detained (despite being here legally) for filming police and ICE."
Sep 25, 2025
Mario Guevara's legal team this week renewed its request that a federal judge free the Salvadoran journalist, who faces "imminent" deportation from the United States after being arrested while covering a June "No Kings" protest in Georgia and then held in an immigration detention center for over 100 days.
The local charges against Guevara have been dropped, but the Emmy-winning Spanish-language journalist—who has covered immigration in the Atlanta area for two decades—remains at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Folkston, despite having work authorization and a path to a green card through his son.
"Journalists should not have to fear government retaliation for doing their jobs, and showing up to work should not mean getting your family torn apart," said Scarlet Kim, senior staff attorney with the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, in a Wednesday statement.
Kim was one of several lawyers who sent a letter to Benjamin Cheesbro, a magistrate judge of the US District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, late Tuesday, after the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) issued an order of final removal, which authorizes Guevara's deportation.
Guevara's legal team asked Cheesbro for "immediate relief" on the grounds presented in a Monday motion for a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction. The lawyers challenged the federal government's claims about his asylum case from 13 years ago, offering evidence that he "posted the voluntary departure bond on June 26, 2012," and "ICE issued a notice of cancellation of the bond on April, 21 2015."
"First, because he posted the voluntary departure bond, he should be subject to a voluntary departure order, and his detention is therefore unlawful under the Immigration and Nationality Act," the letter explains. "Second, his detention is intended to gag and punish his speech and therefore continues to violate the First Amendment."
Guevara's team is seeking his release while his federal court case challenging his detention plays out. However, as the jailed journalist wrote in a Monday letter made public by the ACLU, he is prepared "to be deported from this country, a country I have loved and respected for more than two decades."
"If I am deported, I will leave with my head held high, because I am convinced it will be for doing my work as a journalist and not for committing crimes," he wrote. "That said, I will leave with a broken heart and my dignity tarnished, because I have been humiliated by both federal and local authorities, and I don't believe I deserve it. And because my family, the thing I love most in life, will be separated, although all my loved ones know it has all been because of my passion for my work."
The journalist's adult children have publicly advocated for his release this week. His son, 21-year-old Oscar Guevara, who suffered a stroke during a 2021 surgery for a brain tumor, shared that "he drives me to my medical appointments, helps me manage my care and, most importantly, lifts me up when I feel like giving in to the pain."
Katherine Guevara, who is 27, said that "no one should have to face this fear of punishment for their free speech in this country. Still, we are holding on to hope that the government will do the right thing and release him at once. His place is with his family and his community, not behind bars or facing deportation."
Press freedom advocates have also rallied behind the journalist, with some pointing to the case of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel—who returned to his show on Disney-owned ABC on Tuesday after being yanked off the air by the company last week amid pressure from Federal Communication Commission Chair Brendan Carr, who objected to the comedian's comments about President Donald Trump and the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
"If you were concerned about Kimmel, here's another for you," Zeteo's Prem Thakker wrote on social media Wednesday.
Free Press senior counsel Nora Benavidez similarly said on Bluesky Tuesday: "Our opposition and upset over Jimmy Kimmel being taken off air have led to Kimmel coming back. Let's organize that much noise for reporters like Mario Guevara detained (despite being here legally) for filming police and ICE."
On Monday, Free Press and the Committee to Protect Journalists led a coalition in releasing a statement that says in part, "The government's prolonged detention of Guevara sends a chilling message to all journalists, citizens, and residents who record law enforcement, report on government activities, and seek to report the truth."
For over 100 days, journalist Mario Guevara has been detained by U.S. law enforcement for his livestream reporting.He is the only journalist behind bars for his journalism, and he could be deported for doing his job.We demand his immediate release.freedomformario.com
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— Freedom of the Press Foundation (@freedom.press) September 23, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Other signatories include Amnesty International USA, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, PEN America, Reporters Without Borders, the Society of Professional Journalists, and others. The coalition also launched the website freedomformario.com.
The government's effort to deport Guevara comes not only amid the Trump administration's crackdown on dissent but also as masked ICE agents aim to deliver on the president's promise of mass deportations by rounding up immigrants across the country.
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