Washington DC - Top US media outlets and networks refused to agree to a new Department of Defense press pass policy limiting what credentialed journalists can publish.

Journalists have until 5 PM ET on Tuesday to agree to Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth's new guidelines, which were revised after a first draft said that information "must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified" was met with significant backlash.

The Pentagon Press Association (PPA), which represents journalists covering the department, said in a statement that the updated rules still "appear designed to stifle a free press and potentially expose us to prosecution for simply doing our jobs."

Outlets including the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Atlantic, and CNN said they would not sign the Pentagon's revised policy, saying that it violates the US Constitution's First Amendment's guarantee to free speech.

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The Post's executive editor, Matt Murray, on Monday said: "The proposed restrictions undercut First Amendment protections by placing unnecessary constraints on gathering and publishing information."

The Atlantic's editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg on Monday said "the requirements violate our First Amendment rights, and the rights of Americans who seek to know how taxpayer-funded military resources and personnel are being deployed."

Richard Stevenson, the Times' Washington bureau chief, in a Friday statement said that the new policy "threatens to punish... [journalists] for ordinary news gathering protected by the First Amendment."

Hegseth responded with a hand-waving emoji to the statements by the NYT, Post, and The Atlantic.

Hegseth landed in hot water earlier this year for being part of Signal group chat in which military plans to bomb Yemen were discussed. Goldberg, who had been mistakenly added to one of the chats, said after the strikes took place that he was able to read live plans about the upcoming military action.

Later reports revealed that Hegseth had also shared information on the Yemen attack with his wife and brother in a separate Signal group chat.

President Donald Trump has unleashed an unprecedented crack down on outlets that report on him and his administration in anything other than glowing terms.