TL;DR
Judge Friedman asked 'Is it Catch-22? Is it Kafka?' as the Pentagon ignores his court order on press access -- the Correspondents' Corridor is now in its 15th day of closure.
MSM Perspective
Bloomberg Law reported the judge invoked 'Catch-22'; Reuters noted he questioned whether the Pentagon's restrictions met the spirit of his order.
X Perspective
Journalists on X called the Pentagon's escort-only policy 'malicious compliance' and noted the irony of a wartime building shutting out the reporters covering the war.
Fifteen days. That is how long the Pentagon's Correspondents' Corridor -- the workspace where journalists have reported on the American military for decades -- has been closed since the Department of Defense responded to Judge Paul Friedman's order restoring press access by shutting the corridor entirely [1]. As this paper reported Thursday, reporters now work from an external annex and require escorts for any movement inside the building.
At a hearing on March 30, Judge Friedman's exasperation was unambiguous. "How weird is that? Is it Catch-22? Is it Kafka? What's going on here?" he asked government attorneys [2]. The question was not rhetorical. The Pentagon restored credentials as ordered but eliminated the space where credentialed journalists work. Reporters cannot access the building on foot without escorts. The shuttle bus was initially restricted before the Pentagon relented under pressure [3].
The Trump administration has said it will appeal the original ruling. In the meantime, the building where a war is being run has shut out the reporters covering it. The corridor remains dark. The judge is not satisfied. The Pentagon does not appear to care.
-- ANNA WEBER, Berlin
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