No active military officials to participate in conference this year as access to public affairs officers shifts.
Washington, D.C. — The 2025 Military Reporters & Editors conference began with remarks by MRE President Jen Judson. In the opening, Judson discussed journalist’s access to public affairs officers and suggested what can be done to address the issues. Here is a transcript of her words.
“Good morning, and welcome to our annual Military Reporters & Editors Conference. I’m Jen Judson, your MRE president for this year and next.
This year things look a little different for us at the conference. You will notice we do not have a single active military official speaking which is a departure from every preceding year we’ve held this conference. We usually have a candid, off-the-record conversation with public affairs officers working in the Pentagon to discuss how we can work better together to achieve transparency the American public deserves. Two days ago, we discovered the Office of the Secretary of War had informed all of the public affairs officers who had agreed to speak to reporters at this event that they were no longer allowed to attend; to engage with the reporters they are supposed to work with, not even in an off-the-record capacity.
We gather at a critical juncture; one that demands our vigilance, our courage, and our unity.
In the past weeks we have watched a quiet but profound shutting-down of access, not just to sources or officials, but to the very premise of a free press covering our nation’s defense. At the U.S. Department of Defense, the Pentagon, credentialed journalists have been asked to sign a pledge surrendering key rights: to refrain from reporting information, even unclassified, without prior approval. Media organizations across the country have refused. At the same time, public affairs officers, those employees whose job it is to interact with us, the press, have been denied opportunities for engagement. And behind those Pentagon walls, taxpayer dollars are spent in secrecy, while the light of public scrutiny is shuttered.
Why does this matter? Because access is not a convenience, it is fundamental to accountability. Because the First Amendment does not simply protect the voices of the few, it protects the ability of the press to serve the public interest. And in the context of defense reporting, it means when the halls of the Pentagon grow silent, when official voices retreat behind locked doors, when our inquiries are met with ignored emails and calls or closed schedules, the democracy we serve is weakened.
At the same time, we’ve seen several newsrooms in our defense journalism community all but cease to function as real outlets this year. As punishment for forming unions to fight for fair pay, company owners have chosen shelling out huge paychecks to lawyers to fight the journalists rather than just meet them at the table and negotiate in good faith. Military.com was sold to a foreign company that now feeds the website with work from woefully underpaid freelancers with little to no defense or military reporting experience. Sightline Media Group is fighting the union by barely giving an inch in contract negotiations and letting the newsroom slowly rot by not hiring full-time union eligible employees when reporters leave for better pay and benefits. The landscape is going to look different without these valuable publications filled with dedicated journalists who hustle hard to ensure the public is well informed.
We know our job is not easy and requires experience. Covering the military means navigating classification, operational security, discipline and yet also understanding that secrecy must not become the default. We’ve heard the argument: “It’s for national security.” And national security is real. But it is not a license to muzzle the press, to impose prior restraints, or to require pledges that turn us from independent reporters into mere mouthpieces. Legal experts are already warning that the Pentagon’s new guidance “operates as a prior restraint,” the most serious form of censorship under the First Amendment.
So what do we do?
First, we stand firm. We affirm that our mission, to shine light on the military sphere, to ask hard questions, to follow the money, the policy, the lives of those who serve, is not optional. It is essential. When access is curtailed, we must find new pathways: talk to veterans, reach out to rank-and-file service members, leverage FOIA, use digital and field resources. We must build the map of what we can cover, even when one door is slammed shut.
Second, we support each other. This conference exists precisely because we are stronger together. In the absence of official participation, we will have each other. We will convene panels on how to cover the Pentagon frontier without the Pentagon’s cooperation. We will workshop strategies for transparency, for investigative depth, for bypassing obfuscation. And we will share resources: legal, technological, editorial. When one outlet loses access, our network retains memory.
Third, we remind the public, and the powers that be, that secrecy is not patriotism. Withholding information may feel safe to some, but it is dangerous to democracy. The public has a right to know how their military budget is spent, how strategy is formulated, how civilians relate to uniformed service. No amount of claimed “operational security” can justify a blanket refusal to engage. Indeed, history teaches us that the press can expose waste, deception, error, and in doing so contribute to both security and accountability.
Let’s not forget: The promise of the First Amendment is not fulfilled at the moment we type the byline, it is fulfilled when the story reaches and resonates with the public. And for that to happen, we need access, freedom, and a belief that someone out there is watching the watchers.
So let this conference be our rallying cry: for transparency in defense, for an unflinching press corps, for the open exchange of ideas. Let’s commit this week to ask the questions others are silencing and to hold each other up when the path gets dark.
To each of you, thank you for your work, thank you for your courage, and thank you for your solidarity.”
MRE | Military Reporters & Editors Mission
- Advance the public understanding of the military, national security, and homeland defense.
- Represent the interests of working journalists to the government and military.
- Assure journalists have access to places where the U.S. military and its allies operate.
- Provide resources, support. educational and networking opportunities for members, fostering excellence in journalism.
For more information, visit the MRE website at https://www.militaryreporters.org.