The Pentagon Back-Tracks a Bit on Unfair Journalists Rules

After facing significant criticism from journalists, the Pentagon appeared to backtrack on a controversial new restriction regarding press access.

The reversal comes after more than two weeks of negotiations with national news organizations who condemned an earlier draft of the rules. That draft was widely interpreted as a form of prior restraint, requiring reporters to get approval from the department before publishing articles that contained information not officially released by the Pentagon.

In a significant change of course, the new draft explicitly states, “Members of the news media are not required to submit their writings” to the department for review before publication.

While the Pentagon yielded on the pre-publication approval rule, the new guidelines are not without teeth. The draft still outlines rules under which journalists could be deemed “security risks,” a designation that could lead to their press credentials being revoked.