You're free to say whatever you want about the king. Once. If he doesn't like what you write, you'll be drawn and quartered, but we still have press freedom.
Don't be silly. They aren't facing criminal penalties; they face having the door slammed in their face next time they ask for an interview.
Criminal penalties would definitely be bad. Isn't the government supposed to be transparent to all its citizens and treat them equally though? Is it right for government officials to discriminate against you because they don't like you or your politics?
I'm not sure if there is actually a law for this, but imagine if your local mayor said "My office will not be answering any questions from journalists unless they let me edit what they write." That definitely starts to have banana republic or DPRK vibes and does not look like the postcard of a functional democracy..
Eh less a Free Press issue and more a problem of Access Journalism. "Off the record" is not actually a thing; they can publish whatever an official says to them, and put name to the quote. Once. If you burn a source, they will be less willing to open up to you next time. That would mean more work in the long run.