Major media outlets, including Hegseth’s former employer Fox News, decline to sign new Pentagon reporting rules

Fox News, which previously employed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, joined most major news organizations on Tuesday in refusing to agree to new rules around reporting at the Pentagon.

The company signed a joint statement with ABC News, CBS News, CNN and NBC News saying the new requirements “would restrict journalists’ ability to keep the nation and the world informed of important national security issues.”

“The policy is without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections,” the organizations said.

The move is a blow to Hegseth, a former host of “Fox & Friends Weekend.” Hegseth announced the new rules last month, threatening journalists’ access to the Pentagon if they did not sign on to rules that would punish them for either soliciting or publishing information that the Pentagon did not want released.

An initial memo to reporters read that “information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified.” Reporters that did not sign on to the agreement would not be issued press passes.

News organizations have until Tuesday to agree to the new rules, but so far only — the Trump-friendly One America News Network — has said publicly that it has done so.

POLITICO has also declined to agree to the Pentagon’s new rules. In a statement, the company said the new policy "infringes on First Amendment protections and limits the ability to produce rigorous and transparent reporting."

The company added that POLITICO will continue to cover the military "fairly and independently."

The new rules follow multiple controversial moves by the Department. Earlier this year, the Department took away workspaces from several media organizations — including POLITICO, The Washington Post and The New York Times.

President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday that Hegseth “finds the press to be very disruptive in terms of world peace, and maybe security for our nation.”

“The press is very dishonest,” Trump added.

Hegseth has been largely dismissive of media outlets’ refusals. He has responded to statements from the Washington Post, The New York Times and The Atlantic — all of which also refused to agree to the new rules — with the handwaving emoji.

Hegseth said on Tuesday that the new rules are “commonsense.”

“It used to be, Mr. President, the press could go pretty much anywhere in the Pentagon, the most classified area in the world,” Hegseth said. “Also, if they sign onto the credentialing, they're not going to try to get soldiers to break the law by giving them classified information. So it's commonsense stuff, Mr. President, we're trying to make sure national security is respected and we're proud of the policy."