Journalists are not letting barriers to official channels deter them from pursuing meaningful stories despite new restrictions on reporters’ access to crucial spaces at the White House and Pentagon.
In light of these restrictions, which have cut off journalists from traditional access points, Jon Steinberg, executive editor of The San Francisco Standard, doubts the changes will stifle meaningful reporting.
That “wasn’t necessarily the way that you get the real stories anyway,” he said.
“So you don’t have a desk in the building anymore, and you don’t have a place to put your bag down, but I doubt that the best stories are being thwarted by that policy,” Steinberg added. “Because journalists are still going to find their way to the truth, because the truth wants to be set free.”
On October 31, the National Security Council issued a ban on journalists’ access to Room 140, also known as “upper press,” without appointment. Down the hall from the Oval Office, the upper press room is a White House facility that houses offices for upper communications officials, such as the White House Press Secretary. Before the changes, journalists could use the room freely to consult with senior communications staff on off-the-cuff questions or developments in breaking stories, according to Reuters.
The White House Correspondents’ Association released a statement on October 31 condemning the new policy. The statement says the association “unequivocally opposes” the White House’s recent rulings, acknowledging that spaces in the White House, such as Room 140, have historically supported the free flow of information and newsgathering.
“The new restrictions hinder the press corps’ ability to question officials, ensure transparency, and hold the government accountable, to the detriment of the American public,” the statement said.
Nya Manneh, a 22-year-old student in USC’s Master of Science Journalism program, entered journalism to tell impactful stories about her community, but with the rise in censorship culture, this has become increasingly difficult.
“There already has been a pretty large censorship of the media in the last few years, but I feel like this just made it a whole lot worse,” she said. “It felt like it was removing the whole, like, initial purpose of journalism and telling stories as accurately and authentically as possible.”
The White House appointment policy came as part of a rollout of restrictions across the government beginning in September, which raised questions in the media about how journalists and their stories would adapt with federal policy. Citing security concerns, the initial Pentagon policy, announced by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, requires reporters to sign a tightened agreement to seek government approval before publishing information shared within the department and to be accompanied by a government official on-site.
Nearly every major news outlet declined to sign.
Many students and professionals at USC are not discouraged despite concerns about the larger implications of these developments. Carl Massad, 24, also a student in the Master of Science Journalism program, said he has seen firsthand the pervasive impact of restrictions on freedom of speech in college newsrooms.
“There’s definitely angst in the newsroom here at times, especially when you start to cover these topics. But I think that the angst in the newsroom is a byproduct of a larger angst nationwide, like a new kind of surveillance state is encroaching onto the entire country and onto the field of journalism.”
Annenberg houses over 300 journalism students, many of whom are actively seeking employment. Rather than relying on traditional internship pipelines, students are cultivating personal online platforms, getting creative with visual journalism projects and emphasizing independent reporting over corporate media.
Looking at the current job market, Massad believes the options are limited: comply with commercial interests or “trailblaze.”
“There is no center anymore of anything, either of a job market or of a government or whatever, everything’s decentralized,” he said. “Everybody’s responsible for themselves, and that’s why social media is supposed to market yourself and et cetera, in order to give yourself a job — and make a job for yourself.”
Brittany Hope, a USC alum and current reporter for NBC Los Angeles, emphasized one important rule to remember in the field.
“My number one piece of advice is, know your rights. Know literally the legal code that you are referring to,” she said.
Even as recent policy shifts raise concerns across newsrooms, Hope is still optimistic. “I think there are maybe some people who are deterred, but some people who are like, ‘I want to work and join journalism associations and different groups that are really advocating for freedom of the press.’”