US judge rules Pentagon press restrictions unconstitutional

A federal judge on Friday ruled that the Pentagon’s press access overhaul, which saw accreditations from a host of prominent media outlets withdrawn, violated the constitution.

Elements of the policy are “unlawful because they violate the First and Fifth Amendments of the United States Constitution,” a judge in Washington said in response to a lawsuit brought by The New York Times.

US media including the Times and Fox News, and a host of international news outlets such as AFP and AP, declined to sign the new policy in mid-October, resulting in the stripping of their Pentagon credentials.

It was the latest in a series of measures by President Donald Trump and top officials against journalists and outlets that are often derided as “fake news” when their reporting displeases the administration.

The ruling striking down the policy comes amid the US-Israeli bombing campaign against Iran that began on February 28.

The court said that while national security must be protected, it was vital for the public to have information in light of the US war with Iran and its recent intervention in Venezuela.

“It is more important than ever that the public have access to information from a variety of perspectives about what its government is doing — so that the public can support government policies, if it wants to support them; protest, if it wants to protest,” the ruling said.

“And decide based on full, complete, and open information who they are going to vote for in the next election.”

– ‘Learning opportunity’ –

The Pentagon Press Association (PPA) hailed the ruling and demanded the “immediate reinstatement” of accreditations for journalists who refused to sign on to the new policy.

“This is a great day for freedom of the press in the United States. It is also hopefully a learning opportunity for Pentagon leadership, which took extreme steps to limit press access to information in wartime,” the association said in a statement.

“We look forward to returning to the Pentagon and providing the public, including the members of the military currently involved in conflicts around the world, information about why and how the Defense Department is waging war,” it said.

The new policy, enforced in October last year, was the latest in a series of moves restricting journalists’ access to information from the Defense Department, the nation’s single largest employer, with a budget in the hundreds of billions of dollars a year.

The department had announced earlier last year that eight media organizations including The Times, The Washington Post, CNN, NBC and NPR had to vacate their dedicated office spaces in the Pentagon, alleging that there was a need to create room for other — predominantly conservative — outlets.

It also required journalists to be accompanied by official escorts if they go outside a limited number of areas in the Pentagon — another new restriction on the press.

And in January, Trump said he would sue what he has called the “failing” New York Times over an unfavorable opinion poll, after initially filing a $15 billion defamation suit last year.

He has fired off multiple defamation lawsuits against media companies, including the BBC, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, CBS and ABC. Some have ended in multimillion-dollar settlements.