Federal judge strikes down Pentagon intelligence restrictions: Howard Kurtz

I don’t hear congratulations there.

A federal judge has struck down Pentagon restrictions on what journalists can report, but most Americans don’t care.

The policy that led to the exclusion of major news organizations – from the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, to ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox News – has been repealed. A big win for free speech.

But the credibility of the media is at an all time low, the result of years of bias, errors and rigid bones. That is why there is no sign-waving on the streets or digital high-fiving except those involved in the business.

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Just compare that to the tsunami of reaction to ABC canceling “The Bachelorette” over violent images of its star.

Of course, many people may not be aware of the judge’s decision, as it is difficult for citizens to follow the whirlwind of court cases involving President Donald Trump. It is also a challenge for us who make a living from it.

But here’s why ordinary people should care.

If this administration, or future Democratic administrations, cannot include the credentials of the defense writers, the official version of how things are going will dominate the news.

And here’s why they should care especially right now.

We are in the middle of a war with Iran.

In a case reported by the New York Times, Judge Paul Friedman in Washington said, “those who wrote the First Amendment believed that national security required a free press and an informed public and that such security was vulnerable to government suppression of political speech.” It has been for 250 years.

A Pentagon spokesperson said the department is submitting the request.

What media outlet, regardless of political influence, would agree not to request information that has not been officially authorized to be released by the Department of Defense?

Well, there’s MyPillow guy Mike Lindell, who blew up his business to passionately support Trump. He is constantly promoting ideas on how to steal the 2020 election. His LindellTV is a Pentagon certified press.

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So is the former member of Congress, Matt Gaetz, whose appointment as attorney general failed due to allegations of paying an underage girl for sex. He now hosts a show on One America News.

So did Laura Loomer, a right-wing activist and Trump confidante who said the 2022 mass shooting in Buffalo was a hoax by Democrats; suggested that the deep state used weather manipulation in 2024 to cause a blizzard before the Iowa caucuses to benefit Nikki Haley; and, during that campaign, that “Joe Biden is dying.”

So does James O’Keefe, founder of the group Project Veritas, which has used undercover video to capture the biased behavior and scandalous comments of those in the mainstream media. He once pleaded guilty to entering the senate office by lying, and was removed by his board in 2023, due to allegations of financial misconduct.

Trump has long been involved in legal battles with anti-media rhetoric, particularly in the past year. He successfully sued CBS and ABC for settlements worth at least $16 million each. He criticized the journalists who he considered to be unfair and the big ones as corrupt. Trump said some media outlets should be prosecuted for treason for their “lies” about the Iran conflict.

At the same time, Trump is providing previously unimaginable levels of access, holding regular news conferences and briefings, and repeatedly taking short calls from reporters and anchors on his cell phone.

Secretary of the Army Pete Hegseth, left, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine speaking during a news conference Thursday at the Pentagon in Washington, DC. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

At the Department of Defense, Secretary Pete Hegseth also accused the “disloyal” media of deliberately playing up American casualties and other negative war stories to make Trump look bad.

But such criticism, if deserved, is far from the secretary’s move last October, giving his department broad powers to classify journalists as “security risks” and withdraw their information. In addition, reporters, who have always relied on unnamed sources, had to agree to seek information only from those authorized to speak for the Pentagon.

That, the judge said, would only allow stories “favored or fed by the department’s leadership.” He said the evidence indicated that the Ministry was looking for “reluctant journalists” and wanted to replace those “on board and willing to work.”

Imagine the right-wing reaction if Gavin Newsom were president and his defense secretary went after conservative journalists.

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Friedman tied his 40-page decision to the current military environment even at the center.

“Especially in light of the new country of Venezuela and its ongoing war with Iran, it is more important than ever for the public to get information from different perspectives about what their government is doing – so that the public can support the government’s policies, if they want to support them; protest, if they want to protest; and decide based on full, complete, and open information in the upcoming elections.”

Journalists have been asking a lot of questions about the war. How can the US end Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has stopped some of the world’s oil? How can Americans in Arab countries be protected from Iranian drones? What about rising gas prices at home?

The Pentagon Press Association celebrated the judge’s decision that the new press pass policy it sought to stop would be unconstitutional in a statement released on Friday. (Tom Brenner/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The president answered such questions at a press conference the other day without attacking the media. He is upset about our European allies who refuse to protect the border. He thought the rise in oil prices would be worse. He initially made a timetable of four to six weeks, but now he says he can declare victory and end our “invasion,” as he calls it, at any time.

Trump keeps insisting that our military reduce Iran’s defenses, and of course he’s right, a fact that sometimes gets lost in the coverage.

The point is that journalists should ask these questions during wartime. But it’s hard for Pentagon writers, who tend to be experts, to do their jobs without details. They’re not “in the room,” as they say in “Hamilton,” but on the outside of a large building looking inward.

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If the judge’s order stands, that will change. Defense journalists will no longer be fired for doing their job or for holding certain political views.

The majority of Americans may not care, but media executives – with all their flaws and excesses – make sure they get the full story when the stakes are life and death.