Andrew Thornebrooke, a national security reporter at the right-leaning newspaper The Epoch Times, resigned on Friday, October 17, 2025, in protest of the publication's decision to sign on to new Pentagon press restrictions—rules that have sparked an uproar across the media landscape. The move, which places fresh limits on journalists reporting from within the Pentagon, has drawn sharp criticism from major news organizations and ignited a debate about the future of press freedom in the United States.
Thornebrooke’s resignation comes at a time when tensions between the press and government institutions are running high. According to The New York Times, Thornebrooke submitted his resignation in writing, stating that the outlet’s acceptance of the Pentagon’s rules amounted to “abdicating our responsibility as journalists in favor of merely repeating state narratives.” His email, obtained by The New York Times, went further: “I can no longer reconcile my role with the direction the paper has chosen, including its increasing willingness to promote partisan materials, publish demonstrably false information, and manipulate the reporting of its ground staff to shape the worldview of our readers.”
Thornebrooke, who did not hold an active Pentagon press pass but regularly covered Defense Department issues and reported from the Pentagon, also cited a recent editorial directive that instructed staff to refer to Antifa as a terrorist organization. This editorial shift followed a Trump-era executive order designating Antifa as a terrorist group—despite the fact that, under current U.S. law, there is no domestic terrorism designation for such groups. The change, announced via an internal text message on September 30, 2025, updated the paper’s style guide to describe Antifa as “a far-left extremist group that was designated as a domestic terrorism organization by the Trump administration.”
Critics, including Thornebrooke, have pointed out that Antifa is not an organized group, has no central leadership or formal structure, and has no known links to the German Communist Party, despite claims made in the updated style guide. After some reporters raised concerns about the legal and factual accuracy of this designation, editors modified the guide to clarify the Trump administration’s role in the decision.
The Epoch Times, closely linked to the Falun Gong religious movement and known for its fierce criticism of China’s Communist government and support of former President Trump, has faced scrutiny for its editorial practices. Thornebrooke said he joined the publication in 2021 under the impression that it was pursuing a “concentrated strategy to move to more neutral, credible coverage.” However, he grew increasingly concerned about the paper’s direction, especially after the Justice Department indicted the company’s chief financial officer in 2024 for laundering at least $67 million. The chief executive resigned shortly thereafter, and editors began framing the paper as adversarial to the Biden administration.
Thornebrooke described himself as politically heterodox, having voted for both Republicans and Democrats. Yet, he claimed that reporters were not allowed to review final versions of their articles before publication, a practice contrary to standard newsroom procedures. “Top-ranking editors would suddenly be taking accurate information out of my stories and putting in false info,” Thornebrooke alleged, with the apparent goal of casting the Trump administration in the most positive light possible. Furthermore, major editorial decisions—such as the decision to sign the Pentagon’s new reporting rules—were made without consulting staff, who only learned of the move after the editor-in-chief’s public statement.
The Pentagon’s new rules, first circulated to news outlets in late September, restrict journalists’ access within the Pentagon, limiting areas where reporters can go without an escort. More controversially, the rules state that reporters who solicit government employees to leak unauthorized information could be deemed security risks and risk losing their credentials. The guidelines do not require pre-publication approval for non-public information, but all credentialed journalists must acknowledge and sign the updated policies within one week—even if they disagree with them.
Media groups and legal experts have voiced alarm over these provisions, warning that they could chill investigative reporting and violate First Amendment protections. According to The New York Times, more than two dozen major print and television news outlets—including The Washington Post, Fox News, Newsmax, and The Times—refused to sign the 21-page pledge, arguing it would prevent them from informing the public. In a dramatic gesture of protest, dozens of journalists handed in their credentials and walked out of the Pentagon on Wednesday, October 15, 2025, carrying their personal effects.
Despite the backlash, The Epoch Times was one of only three U.S.-based outlets to sign the pledge, alongside One America News Network and The Federalist. Several freelancers and independent journalists also signed on. In a statement published on the outlet’s website Friday, editor-in-chief Jasper Fakkert defended the decision: “The Epoch Times does not view the new guidelines for Pentagon press access as an impediment to our reporting. Having been subject to repeated attacks by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) over the past two decades, The Epoch Times is no stranger to attempts to suppress freedom of the press; the Pentagon’s new media access policy is no such attack.”
On the same day, Epoch Times editors convened a video call with reporters to discuss the Pentagon rules and the Antifa designation. In a recording reviewed by The New York Times, an editor defended the Pentagon guidelines, saying, “To be honest, I’m surprised that any military building or installation would even invite reporters inside,” and describing the opportunity to report from within the Pentagon as a “huge privilege.”
For his part, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has downplayed the impact of the new rules, calling them “common sense” in an interview with Fox News earlier in October 2025. He criticized reporters for seeking to publish classified documents, stating, “When someone is providing information that’s otherwise classified or otherwise not for disclosure, that’s a problem. So, we’re doing everything we can protocol-wise to make sure those are minimized.”
Yet, for many in the press, the new guidelines represent a dangerous precedent. Media lawyers warn that the threat of losing credentials for soliciting leaks—a common reporting method—could severely curtail the ability of journalists to hold powerful institutions accountable. The walkout by dozens of journalists and the refusal of major outlets to sign the pledge signal a broader concern about government overreach and the erosion of core journalistic protections.
The Epoch Times, founded in 2000 and based in New York City, has long touted its commitment to press freedom, citing the experiences of its first reporters and editors in China, who faced state-sanctioned censorship, torture, and jail. Now, with its decision to embrace the Pentagon’s new rules and the subsequent resignation of a prominent reporter, the outlet finds itself at the center of a national debate about the boundaries of press freedom and the responsibilities of the media in a rapidly changing political environment.
As Thornebrooke’s departure reverberates through the journalism community, the questions raised by his resignation and the Pentagon’s new rules remain unresolved, leaving the future of independent reporting on national security issues hanging in the balance.