FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
The New York Times and its Pentagon reporter, Julian Barnes, are taking the Trump administration to court over the Department of Defense’s unconstitutional requirement that journalists pledge not to report unauthorized information as a condition of gaining access to the Pentagon.
The following statement can be attributed to Trevor Timm, executive director for Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF).
“In an era where news networks seem to be caving to Trump’s censorious tactics left and right, it’s refreshing to see The New York Times leading by example and sticking up for the First Amendment in court.
“An attack on any journalist’s rights is an attack on all. And the only way to put an end to the Trump administration’s multipronged assault on press freedom is for every news outlet to fight back at every opportunity. We urge other news outlets to follow the Times’ lead.
“These days, the government has countless platforms of its own to tell the public what it wants it to know. A free and independent press isn’t needed for that. The Constitution guarantees one anyway precisely because the public needs the information the government does not want it to know. The Pentagon’s absurd access pledge has been an affront to the First Amendment since the first day they proposed it. And we look forward to a federal judge throwing it out with the trash, where it belongs.”
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