The War on Free Speech

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New York Times, AP, Newsmax among news outlets who say they won't sign new Pentagon rules

News organizations including The New York Times, The Associated Press and the conservative Newsmax television network said Monday they will not sign a Defense Department document about its new press rules, making it likely the Trump administration will evict their reporters from the Pentagon.

Those outlets say the policy threatens to punish them for routine news gathering protected by the First Amendment. The Washington Post, The Atlantic and Reuters on Monday also publicly joined the group that says it will not be signing.

"Reuters is bound by its commitment to accurate, impartial and independent news," the agency said in a statement. “We also steadfastly believe in the press protections afforded by the U.S. Constitution, the unrestricted flow of information and journalism that serves the public interest without fear or favor. The Pentagon’s new restrictions erode these fundamental values.”
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Newsmax, whose on-air journalists are generally supportive of President Donald Trump’s administration, said that “we believe the requirements are unnecessary and onerous and hope that the Pentagon will review the matter further.”

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Media outlets, including Fox News and CNN, refuse to sign Pentagon’s press access rules

ABC News, CBS News, CNN, NBC News and Fox News (where Hegseth was an on-air host for a decade) issued a joint statement on Tuesday afternoon condemning the new rules and refusing to sign the paperwork.

“Today, we join virtually every other news organization in declining to agree to the Pentagon’s new requirements, which would restrict journalists’ ability to keep the nation and the world informed of important national security issues,” the statement read. “The policy is without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections. We will continue to cover the U.S. military as each of our organizations has done for many decades, upholding the principles of a free and independent press.”

Beyond the big cable and broadcast networks, Reuters, The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic and NPR have all said that journalists from their newsrooms will not sign on to the Pentagon’s restrictions.
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Some partisan media outlets have also raised objections: Newsmax, the pro-Trump cable channel and website, said Monday that its reporters have no plans to sign either.

“We believe the requirements are unnecessary and onerous and hope that the Pentagon with review the matter further,” Newsmax said in a statement.

The only media outlet that has publicly accepted the Pentagon’s rules is One America News, a MAGA outlet that stands further to the right of Newsmax and Fox News.

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Self-proclaimed free speech advocate tells Newsmax ‘I do not want’ Charlie Kirk critics to ‘have free speech’

In the wake of the State Department stripping visas from at least six foreign nationals whom it accused of celebrating the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Newsmax guest Dennis Kneale said “to heck with them” and that he did not “want them to have free speech.”

Is this the same guy who tweeted ...



He's willing to sacrifice someone else's free speech because he's "scared and intimidated" by "WORDS". He should "stand up, and show COURAGE. Or block accounts, change the channel." He's "an embarrassment". Shame on him, that MAQAwit lapdog, "what the flup happened" to him?

[kalm]

Self-proclaimed free speech advocate tells Newsmax ‘I do not want’ Charlie Kirk critics to ‘have free speech’

In the wake of the State Department stripping visas from at least six foreign nationals whom it accused of celebrating the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Newsmax guest Dennis Kneale said “to heck with them” and that he did not “want them to have free speech.”

Is this the same guy who tweeted ...



He's willing to sacrifice someone else's free speech because he's "scared and intimidated" by "WORDS". He should "stand up, and show COURAGE. Or block accounts, change the channel." He's "an embarrassment". Shame on him, that MAQAwit lapdog, "what the flup happened" to him?

The lack of principles and consistency. Tell me it’s not a cult again.

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Reporter at Right-Leaning Epoch Times Resigns Over New Pentagon Rules, Says Outlet Was ‘Merely Repeating State Narratives’

Thornebrooke, in his resignation letter on Friday, said agreeing to the new rules was a decision to “abdicate our responsibility as journalists in favor of merely repeating state narratives.”

His letter also contained the following passage: “I can no longer reconcile my role with the direction the paper has chosen, including its increasing willingness to promote partisan materials, publish demonstrably false information, & manipulate the reporting of its ground staff to shape the worldview of our readers.”

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State employees fired over Charlie Kirk posts inundate courts

State government employees are taking to the courts after being fired over social media posts criticizing conservative activist Charlie Kirk upon his assassination.

More than a dozen employees, from a Tennessee high school science teacher to a landscape supervisor at Auburn University, have sued over allegations their punishments violate the First Amendment.

The challenges raise questions of the line between official and private speech and states’ ability to police employees’ social media while off the clock.
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Many of the terminations involve media companies, airlines and other private companies not subject to the First Amendment. But state governments are, and their firings are now inundating the courts.