U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered top military officials to inform the Pentagon before giving interviews to news media.
The new policy announced Friday comes little more than a week after the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, was forced to resign because of a published article. The U.S. magazine Rolling Stone last month published mocking comments McChrystal and his staff made about the Obama administration.
Pentagon officials say Secretary Gates was working on the new policy before that scandal. They added that the policy was not intended to restrict information or media access to officials.
Some reporters have expressed concern after the McChrystal episode that military officials will be wary of communicating with them.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
