{"id":233470,"date":"2025-10-18T08:23:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T08:23:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/233470\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T08:23:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T08:23:23","slug":"reporters-from-pentagon-still-working-two-days-after-leaving-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/233470\/","title":{"rendered":"Reporters from Pentagon still working two days after leaving site"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two days after dozens of journalists left their desks<\/a> at the Pentagon behind rather than agree to government-imposed rules on how they report about the U.S. military, it\u2019s apparent they haven\u2019t stopped working.<\/p>\n

Reporters have relied on sources to break and add nuance to stories about U.S. attacks in the Caribbean on boats suspected of being involved in the drug trade, as well as military leadership in the region.<\/p>\n

This comes as many are still navigating how their jobs will change \u2014 where will they work? who will talk with them? \u2014 brought on by the dispute. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth demanded reporters relinquish their Pentagon workspaces if they didn\u2019t acknowledge rules the journalists say would punish them<\/a> for reporting on anything beyond what he wants them to say.<\/p>\n

The Pentagon has characterized the changes as \u201ccommon sense\u201d and accused journalists of mischaracterizing them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe self-righteous media chose to self-deport from the Pentagon,\u201d Hegseth\u2019s chief spokesman, Sean Parnell, said on social media. \u201cThat\u2019s their right \u2014 but also their loss. They will not be missed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Breaking news on a U.S. attack with survivors<\/p>\n

While most press may have departed the Pentagon, it was clear from stories that some sources were still talking. <\/p>\n

Reuters broke news Thursday about the first U.S. attack on a boat in the Caribbean where some of the passengers survived. Reporter Phil Stewart, stationed at the Pentagon before leaving Wednesday, sourced it to a \u201cU.S. official\u201d who was not named. President Donald Trump confirmed the attack<\/a> on Friday as more details emerged, including that two people were taken into U.S. custody.<\/p>\n

The New York Times reported on the sudden retirement<\/a> of U.S. Navy Adm. Alvin Holsey, leader of the U.S. Southern Command, which oversees operations in Central and South America, including use of the military in the administration\u2019s drug-fighting efforts.<\/p>\n

Times reporters Eric Schmitt, who covers national security, and Tyler Pager, based in the White House, quoted two unnamed officials saying that Holsey had expressed concerns about the mission and attacks on the boats. The reporters pointed out the unusual nature of a retirement one year into Holsey\u2019s expected three-year command.<\/p>\n

Both Hegseth and Holsey released social media statements late Thursday announcing the retirement, with neither addressing reasons for it. A Times spokesman would not comment about whether the newspaper had begun inquiring about Holsey before the retirement was publicly announced.<\/p>\n

The Washington Post reported Friday that 15 people had signed the new press policy<\/a>. They included reporters from conservative outlets the Federalist and the Epoch Times and two from One America News. The others were foreign outlets and freelancers, including six from Turkey. No legacy media outlets agreed.<\/p>\n

The newspaper cited a \u201cgovernment document viewed by The Washington Post.\u201d The story was written not by a Pentagon reporter, but by media writer Scott Nover.<\/p>\n

One reporter says stories show there are reasons to be hopeful<\/p>\n

News outlets that said this week they would leave the Pentagon rather than agree to Hegseth\u2019s rules stressed that it would not stop them from reporting on the military.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are reasons to be hopeful that people can still deliver,\u201d Nancy Youssef, a reporter for The Atlantic, said Friday. After leaving the Pentagon, she\u2019s largely been working at The Atlantic\u2019s Washington office about three miles away.<\/p>\n

As much as the access issues raised by the Pentagon exit, reporters expressed concerns that it will make it easier for Hegseth and his team to avoid questions about their actions. For instance, Youssef said she had asked about what weapons had been used in an earlier boat attack, what the legal basis for the action was and the identities of those killed. She received no answer.<\/p>\n

Youssef said she also wondered whether journalists who did not sign on to the Pentagon\u2019s rules would be permitted to visit other military sites or be embedded to cover military operations. That remains unclear.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re in the Navy in charge of the carrier strike group, would you invite a journalist now?\u201d she asked. \u201cPractically speaking, are we allowed to go?\u201d<\/p>\n

Even before this past week, Hegseth had taken steps<\/a> to ban reporters from accessing large parts of the Pentagon without a government escort. He and his team have held only a handful of briefings for journalists.<\/p>\n

Two journalists who spoke on background because their outlets would not permit on-the-record interviews said they\u2019re concerned about having fewer opportunities for face-to-face contact with people who work in the Pentagon. Hegseth had begun requiring reporters get an escort to visit press offices for the military\u2019s individual branches, but there were still public information officials near where the reporters worked.<\/p>\n

Many Pentagon reporters have developed sources in the building over the course of many years working there. It remains to be seen how many will still answer their calls. \u201cSome people are going to be scared,\u201d one reporter said. \u201cI think that\u2019s inevitable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Youssef, however, noted in an article for The Atlantic that mid-level service members had reached out to her, unsolicited, to promise they would keep providing journalists with information. They said they would be doing this not to disobey current leadership but to uphold constitutional values, she wrote.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http:\/\/x.com\/dbauder<\/a> and https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/dbauder.bsky.social<\/a><\/p>\n