Epoch Times Reporter Resigns After Publication Signs Pentagon Rules

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The reporter, Andrew Thornebrooke, also cited a recent editorial directive to refer to antifa, the far-left ideological movement, as a terrorist organization.

A few newspaper boxes stand next to each other on a sidewalk. The yellow Epoch Times box is on the left.
The editor of The Epoch Times said in a statement that the publication “does not view the new guidelines for Pentagon press access as an impediment to our reporting.”Credit...Steve Heap/Getty Images

Ken Bensinger

Oct. 19, 2025, 12:18 p.m. ET

A national security reporter at the right-wing Epoch Times newspaper has resigned after the publication signed on to rules restricting news gathering within the Pentagon.

The reporter, Andrew Thornebrooke, submitted his resignation in writing on Friday. Although he did not have an active Pentagon press pass, he regularly covered issues related to the Defense Department and frequently reported from the cavernous military complex while working at the publication.

In his resignation email, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Thornebrooke called The Epoch Times’s signing of the pledge a choice to “abdicate our responsibility as journalists in favor of merely repeating state narratives.”

He also cited a recent editorial directive to refer to antifa, the far-left ideological movement, as a terrorist organization. There is no designation for domestic terrorism under existing U.S. law. The editorial change came soon after President Trump signed an executive order designating antifa a terrorist group.

“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,” Mr. Thornebrooke wrote.

The Epoch Times, which publishes online and also has a weekly print newspaper that is circulated nationwide, did not respond to a request for comment on the resignation. The publication is closely linked to the Falun Gong religious movement, which was founded in China. It is known for its fierce criticism of that country’s Communist government, for spreading conspiracy theories and for its staunch support of Mr. Trump, backing his policies and criticizing his political opponents.

The paper is one of only three U.S.-based outlets to sign the 21-page pledge, which was first distributed to news outlets late last month. The other organizations that signed are the conservative cable network One America News Network and the digital outlet The Federalist. A handful of freelancers and independent journalists also signed.

“The Epoch Times does not view the new guidelines for Pentagon press access as an impediment to our reporting,” the publication’s editor in chief, Jasper Fakkert, wrote in a statement published on the outlet’s website Friday. “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.” The publication has several other reporters who cover national security issues, including one with a Pentagon press pass.

The Defense Department rules limit areas within the Pentagon where journalists are permitted without an escort. They also state that reporters face losing their credentials if they solicit government employees to leak unauthorized information, a provision many media lawyers fear will restrain common reporting methods. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has played down the impact of the rules, calling them “common sense,” but media groups have challenged them as a violation of free speech protections in the Constitution.

More than two dozen other print and television news outlets, including The Washington Post, Fox News, Newsmax and The Times, refused to sign the pledge, stating that it would prevent them from informing the public and was a threat to their First Amendment protections. On Wednesday, dozens of journalists handed in their credentials and walked out of the Pentagon, carrying their personal effects.

In an interview, Mr. Thornebrooke described himself as politically heterodox, saying he had voted for both Republicans and Democrats. He said he was aware of The Epoch Times’s political leanings when he accepted a full-time job in 2021, but was assured during the hiring process that the paper was undergoing a “concentrated strategy to move to more neutral, credible coverage.” He initially covered China, a critical topic for the outlet.

In 2023, he moved to Washington to cover national security but over time, he said, he grew increasingly concerned about the paper’s editorial direction. He said discussions of a more neutral stance ceased soon after the Justice Department, under President Joseph R. Biden Jr., indicted The Epoch Times’s chief financial officer last year for laundering at least $67 million through company accounts. The company’s chief executive resigned several days later, and the editors described the paper as being in an adversarial position with the Biden administration, Mr. Thornebrooke recalled..

According to Mr. Thornebrooke, reporters are not permitted to review final versions of articles before they are published, contrary to standard practice in most newsrooms. In many instances, he said, top-ranking editors “would suddenly be taking accurate information out of my stories and putting in false info.” The goal of those changes, he claimed, was to cast the Trump administration in the most positive light possible.

In addition, he said, reporters are not consulted on major coverage decisions in advance. That was the case, he said, with The Epoch Times’s decision to sign on to the Pentagon’s new reporting rules, which staff members did not learn of until the paper published Mr. Fakkert’s statement.

Mr. Thornebrooke said the paper’s new guidance on antifa came via an internal text message on Sept. 30 announcing an update to the style guide, a copy of which was reviewed by The Times. In addition to describing it as a terrorist group, the update said, “We may describe antifa as ‘a far-left extremist group that originated under the Soviet Union and functioned as the violent wing of Germany’s Communist Party to target political rivals.’”

Antifa is not an organized group and has no central leadership or formal organizational structure and has no known links to the German Communist Party, pre-World War II or otherwise.

After some reporters raised concerns that, under existing law, antifa — or any other domestic group or ideology — could not by definition be designated a terrorist group, editors updated the style guide late last week to state that “we may describe antifa as a far-left extremist group that was designated as a domestic terrorism organization by the Trump administration.”

On Friday, Epoch Times editors convened a video call with reporters to discuss the publication’s stance on the Pentagon’s new media rules and the antifa designation. In a recording of the meeting, reviewed by The Times, an editor can be heard defending the Pentagon guidelines, stating, “To be honest, I’m surprised that any military building or installation would even invite reporters inside” and calling being able to report from within the Pentagon a “huge privilege.”

Ken Bensinger covers media and politics for The Times.

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