The Sift: Journalists exit Pentagon

October 20, 2025

An educator's guide
to news literacy

Oct. 20, 2025

In this issue

Journalists exit Pentagon | PG-13 Instagram | RumorGuard slides

Daily Do Now slides

Don’t miss this week’s classroom-ready resource.

Top picks

Here are the latest news literacy topics and tips on how to integrate them into your classroom.

An illustration of the Pentagon building next to a red exit sign, a press pass, and an outstretched arm holding a tape recorder.

New restrictions have prompted a mass exodus of reporters from the Pentagon.

1. News outlets reject Pentagon press policy

A new press policy makes soliciting information not authorized by the Department of Defense a criminal offense, prompting a mass exodus of journalists from the Pentagon press pool who refused to sign the agreement.

Rejected by journalists: The policy went into effect on Oct. 15, and the majority of journalists who cover the Pentagon — many who have desks there — turned in their access badges and left the Pentagon. All major news organizations, such as Fox News, CNN, The Associated Press and many more, rejected the Pentagon’s new policy.
First Amendment: The Pentagon says soliciting unauthorized information is not protected by the First Amendment but press freedom experts disagree. “What the Pentagon calls illegal solicitation, we would call newsgathering,” David Schulz, director of the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic at Yale University, told PBS NewsHour.
Large budget: The public has an invested interest in the Pentagon because its budget makes up a large share of tax dollars. The Pentagon has a budget of nearly $1 trillion and about 3 million employees.

💬 Discuss:

Why is access important to journalists reporting on a major government department like the Pentagon?
What impact could these restrictions have on investigative news reporting? On the ability of the press to hold officials at the Department of Defense accountable?
How might the information authorized for release by the Pentagon be different than the information reporters gather directly from Pentagon staffers?

💡 Idea: Use the “Press freedom” slide in Week Six of the Daily Do Now resource to further explore this topic.

⭐ NLP Resources:

“Democracy’s Watchdog” (Checkology)
“Press Freedoms Around the World” (Checkology)
Poster: “The First Amendment”

🔗 Related:

“How the Pentagon Is Blocking Out News Organizations” (The New York Times).
“Opinion: Why I’m handing in my Pentagon press pass” (NPR).

2. Indiana University accused of censoring student newspaper

Indiana University officials recently halted all print editions of its student newspaper, the Indiana Daily Student, after its editors disregarded a directive to not run news reports in any of the seven print editions it produces each semester. University administrators claim this was a business decision, but student journalists and press freedom advocates say it’s censorship.

Editorial independence: Student editors say cutting the print editions constitutes “a breach of editorial independence.” University officials argue that it’s not censorship because the newspaper is still available digitally, and that the decision was merely a matter of distribution.
Press freedom: While most student newspapers receive school funding, legal precedents have established that this doesn’t give schools the authority to dictate content. IU’s efforts to control content are “blatant censorship,” Mike Hiestand, senior legal counsel at the Student Press Law Center, told the Indianapolis Star.
Support from rival: In solidarity, Purdue University’s student newspaper, The Exponent, printed a special edition focused on the value of student journalism and distributed 3,000 copies across Indiana University’s campus.

💬 Discuss:

Why might school administrators seek to control what student journalists publish? Should they be able to, or not? Why?
If Indiana Daily Student news reports are still available online, is this censorship or something else? Why?

⭐ NLP Resources:

“Practicing Quality Journalism: The Daily Northwestern Protest” (Checkology)
“The First Amendment” (Checkology)

🔗 Related:

“Why UT Students Are Reviving an Underground 1960s Newspaper” (Texas Monthly).

3. Swapping smartphones for ‘dumbphones’

Could you live without a smartphone? That’s what a group in the Washington, D.C. area, including Washington Post reporter Brittany Shammas, committed to for a month.

“Dumbphones”: The group turned off their smartphones and instead used flip phones that were only functional for calling and old-school texting. They had accountability partners to hold them to their commitment and found workarounds for apps like Uber, which has a phone number to call for a ride.
Reclaimed time: The average American spends 4 ½ hours a day on devices, or about 14 years of their life. During the monthlong experiment, Shammas noticed she had better quality sleep and was more present in person.
“Delete Day”: Another group recently took steps against the attention economy by gathering in a Manhattan park to delete addictive apps off of their smartphones.

💬 Discuss:

How do smartphones — complete with their attention-grabbing notifications and addicting apps — impact us?
How might giving up your smartphone impact your view of the world?
Have smartphones and social media had a more positive or a more negative effect on the world? Why?

💡 Idea: Ask students to conduct a similar “digital detox” experiment for a period of time and share how it impacted them.

⭐ NLP Resources:

“Introduction to Algorithms” (Checkology)

🔗 Related:

“Kids who use social media score lower on reading and memory tests, a study shows” (NPR).
“Health advisory on social media use in adolescence” (American Psychological Association).

These classroom-ready slide decks provide a comprehensive walk-through on how to debunk false rumors.

Viral clip of opossum scared off by Halloween decoration is AI-generated

A post reads, “Halloween decoration startles an opossum at the candy bowl” and features a video that appears to show an opossum taking candy from a bowl before getting startled by an animatronic Halloween decoration. The News Literacy Project has added a label that says “AI-GENERATED.”

❌ NO: This is not genuine footage of an opossum stealing candy from a bowl before getting startled by a Halloween decoration.

✅ YES: This video is AI-generated.

⭐ NewsLit takeaway:

AI generators can create incredibly realistic content, but they still aren’t perfect. View these Google Slides for tips on spotting these fabrications, even when the AI watermark has been removed.

Posts linked to viral video mislead on electric school bus dangers

A social media post reads, “BREAKING: Montreal’s shiny new electric school bus? Burst into flames. How many “toxic fumes” did that pump out? Probably erased 1,000 EV bus emissions in a single fireball. Imagine turning the whole country into rolling fire bombs” and features a video of a school bus fire. The News Literacy Project has added a label that says “MISSING CONTEXT.”

✅ YES: A video that shows an electric school bus fire in Montreal, Canada, on Sept. 9 is genuine.

❌ NO: The video is not evidence that electric school buses are prone to fires or more dangerous than traditional buses.

❌ NO: This fire was not caused by the electric vehicle battery, according to the Montreal fire department.

⭐ NewsLit takeaway:

Pairing an exciting video with an alarming claim can make an argument seem convincing. However, this tactic often involves cherry-picked content and omits important context. View these Google Slides for tips on spotting this misleading media.

➕ AI technology is becoming more widely used in schools, but with that popularity comes risks like data breaches, bullying and concerns about students using AI tools in irresponsible ways.

➕ One in five high school students say they have had a romantic relationship with an AI bot or know someone who has, according to a national survey of a thousand high schoolers.

➕ California is the first state to require AI chatbots to notify users that the product is AI and not a human.

➕ Ever dream of moving to a small town by the sea? That’s what several journalists from large news outlets did when they took pay cuts and relocated to coastal Maine to help run a small newspaper.

➕ Doctors in rural areas of the U.S. face harassment (link warning: details include explicit and racist language) from community members influenced by health misinformation and conspiracy theories about topics like vaccines, masks and sunscreen.

➕ PG-13 ratings aren’t just for movies anymore — it’s now a standard being used on Instagram accounts for teens.

➕ Scroll through enough TikTok videos and you’ll find tiny mics are part of the aesthetic. Journalists are using them too for the sound quality (and the cuteness!).