Comment by perihelions | Hacker News Reader

Comment by perihelions | Hacker News Reader

> "When the new policy was issued two weeks ago, news organizations were concerned that signing the rules conveyed agreement with them, including to a restriction that they not report on any news — even if unclassified — without official approval."

https://apnews.com/article/pentagon-journalists-new-restrict...

Awfully reminiscent of a certain *other* autocratic regime, and its tyrannical control over public discussion of its armed forces.

> "These laws establish administrative and criminal punishments for "discrediting" or dissemination of "unreliable information" about the Russian Armed Forces, other Russian state bodies and their operations, and the activity of volunteers aiding the Russian Armed Forces, and for calls to impose sanctions against Russia, Russian organizations and citizens.[1][2]"... The adoption of these laws resulted in the mass exodus of foreign media from Russia and the termination of war reporting by independent Russian media. More than 10,000 people have been prosecuted under these laws,[4]..."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_2022_war_censorship_la... ("Russian 2022 war censorship laws")

>> news organizations were concerned that signing the rules conveyed agreement with them, including to a restriction that they not report on any news — even if unclassified — without official approval

Where in the memo does it restrict journalists from reporting on any news without official approval? Can you quote me the relevant section?

I see a section about "unauthorized disclosure of CNSI or CUI", but CNSI and CUI are specific classifications of information that the government is required by law to protect.

> "“Information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified,” the directive states. The signature form includes an array of security requirements for credentialed media at the Pentagon."

https://apnews.com/article/pentagon-press-media-restrictions...

That section does not restrict reporters, it restricts government employees at the Pentagon from releasing information without authorization.

The section of the memo that pertains to reporters losing badge access only mentions classified and unclassified but controlled information.

"The Pentagon should let reporters report anything they want" is a very different claim than "Pentagon employees should be allowed to tell us anything they want".

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