Only OANN agrees to Pentagon press policy, as Fox News joins other outlets

You may have heard about the Pentagon's new press policy and the majority of news outlets from both sides of the political spectrum speaking out against it

So what is it that has the press pushing back and the Pentagon refusing to back down

This standoff highlights the fine line between protecting national security and protecting press freedom

how far the government can go to try and shield sensitive information without stepping on First Amendment rights

We'll flash back to 1971 and the Daniel Ellsberg case, a landmark moment that helped define the press's right to publish and still shapes the debate over government transparency today

So here's what the Pentagon's new policy looks like. In a memorandum, the Pentagon announced security requirements and new physical control measures

That means reporters will now need an official escort to enter areas they once moved through freely

Journalists will also have to wear an extra visible press identifier badge at all times

And here comes the sticking point. The original September memo required reporters to get Department of War information approved for public release After pushback that language was removed The New York Times reported the revised draft says members of the news media are not required

to submit their writings before publication, but warned that any reporter who encourages

government officials to violate disclosure laws could still be deemed a security risk

In plainer words, the Pentagon already prohibits its employees from leaking sensitive information

The new policy goes further, restricting journalists from even seeking out that sort of info

If they sign on to the credentialing, they're not going to try to get soldiers to break the law by giving classified information

So it's common sense stuff, Mr. President. We're trying to make sure national security is respected and we're proud of the policy

It's this fine line between protecting national security and infringing on press freedom that's created the uproar that you're seeing today

We spoke with Susan Seeger, a professor at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, someone who specializes in First Amendment cases

I haven't heard of anything where the press is so united against a government policy. I don't know of anything like this

However Seeger points out this isn the first time the government has tried to prevent sensitive leaks to the press Some of the most important news stories in American history are leaks by people who are unauthorized to speak

and unauthorized to give information to the press, and yet they did

And I'm thinking of the Daniel Ellsberg case. In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg leaked what's known as the Pentagon Papers

A top-secret Defense Department study exposing how the government was misleading the American people about the Vietnam War

And he decided to leak it to the Washington Post and the New York Times

And as a result of these leaks, which were unauthorized by the government

the American people learned that the Vietnam War was a complete disaster

and the presidents knew that we were never going to win that war. and it helped the American people turn against the war and have us eventually pull out a Vietnam War

The Nixon administration tried to prevent its publication and it went all the way to the Supreme Court

which ruled in favor of the press, saying the government couldn't use national security as a blanket reason to stop publication

The government can go to court and can stop the presses if there's actually proof of an actual imminent danger to human life

But Seeger says the courts have never ruled against the press in these circumstances So it extremely high bar The court has never held the Supreme Court has never affirmed any kind of it called

a prior restraint, never allowed the government to stop publication. You could view a government

leak as a double-edged sword. On one side, it can be critically important, shedding light on the

government and holding officials accountable. On the other, it could threaten national security

depending on what it is. And while the government has guidance in place for its own employees to

keep that valve shut and tight, can the government also place guidance on reporters to try and

prevent leaks? That's the question that's being debated between the media at large and the

Pentagon over this new policy. I don't think it will inhibit their ability to report

They can get on the phone. They have sources they can reach through all sorts of means, not just by being in the Pentagon

This just means they can't come to the Pentagon. Their offices are not there in the Pentagon itself

Right now, it's a standoff and Pentagon press offices are largely empty

Thank you for watching our story and thank you to Professor Seeger for her insight

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