On October 15, roughly half of the 101 members of the self-important Pentagon Press Association turned in their credentials as Pentagon reporters to protest new rules such as not giving reporters free range in the military headquarters.
These are the eagle-eyed journalists who never noticed that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was in the hospital for a month.
The quitters now complain that they are being denied access. Huh?
Disney’s ABC said, “Outlets that reach millions of news consumers are being denied access to rare briefings by Pentagon officials this week—sessions that are being held instead for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s hand-picked media organizations.
Only in Paragraph 4 did the Disney channel admit that it voluntarily surrendered its press credentials.
The story boasted, “The rules haven’t kept journalists from working, even without the physical access. The Washington Post reported Friday that Hegseth ordered a second strike in September on a boat with suspected drug smugglers after not everyone had been initially killed. President Donald Trump said Hegseth had denied he did this, which some critics have said was a potential war crime if true.”
If true.
Bullwinkle J. Moose once observed that if it’s in the newspaper, it must be true. Newspapers dropped that standard long ago.
AP, whose Pentagon reporter was among the quitters taking their ballpoint pens and going home, said at the time, “In an essay, NPR reporter Tom Bowman noted the many times he’d been tipped off by people he knew from the Pentagon and while embedded in the military about what was happening, even if it contradicted official lines put out by leadership. Many understand the media’s role.”
AP doesn’t understand. Chief among those reports that contradicted the Pentagon this summer was AP’s story that began, “A U.S. intelligence report suggests that Iran’s nuclear program has been set back only a few months after U.S. strikes and was not ‘completely and fully obliterated’ as President Donald Trump has said, according to two people familiar with the early assessment.”
The story is based on the 47th Rule of What Passes for Journalism These Days: Never believe Trump.
Two days later, BBC reported, “Iranian foreign minister admits serious damage to nuclear sites.”
And last month, AP was forced to admit, “Iran’s foreign minister says there is no uranium enrichment at any nuclear facility in the country.”
Skepticism is one thing. Flat-out lying is another.
Then there was the Army’s large-scale military parade to celebrate its 250th anniversary on June 14.
AP bragged, “Tireless source work helps score AP exclusive on the Army’s plans for a military parade on Trump’s birthday.”
No mention in the headline that the parade was for the Army’s anniversary. Planning for the parade began while Biden was still a president seeking re-election.
If I were War Consigliere Pete Hegseth, I would have kicked the AP reporter—Lolita Baldor—out.
But now a new regime is in press row and AP is pissing on them like a naughty Calvin and Hobbes decal. AP reported:
The new journalism guard is officially in at the Pentagon. And the questions being asked of those running the world’s most powerful military range from softballs to pointed queries to performances.
On Tuesday, Defense Department press secretary Kingsley Wilson — focused on her talking points and jabbing at old-guard reporters along the way — held her first briefing since most nonpartisan news outlets were replaced by friendly media representatives willing to accept new rules imposed by department chief Pete Hegseth.
Even before the new rules were in place, Hegseth’s Pentagon struggled to hold televised briefings. Wilson’s boss, Pentagon top spokesman Sean Parnell, held only two, one in March and another in July. By contrast, Pentagon officials under the Biden administration typically held two public briefings per week by the end of their time in office.
Among the topics that interested the latest crop of reporters: the National Guard in American cities, military action in Iran and Somalia, an investigation into former President Joe Biden, potential legal action against the Washington Post and efforts to root out disloyal employees.
The legal action regards the Washington Post’s November 28 story, “Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all
“As two men clung to a stricken, burning ship targeted by SEAL Team 6, the Joint Special Operations commander followed the defense secretary’s order to leave no survivors.”
The story was a sneak attack on a holiday weekend but the truth did come out.
Even the New York Times isn’t buying the Washington Post’s hit piece attacking War Secretary Pete Hegseth and claiming that he gave an order to “kill them all,” authorizing a second missile strike on a Venezuelan drug boat when survivors were in the water.
The Post’s “exclusive”—which ran on Saturday—painted a picture of two survivors, helplessly clinging to the remnants of their destroyed vessel as a second strike was ordered to ensure they were killed. Citing anonymous sources, the outlet walked right up to the line, but stopped just short of directly accusing Hegseth of executing the two survivors in the water.
What followed immediately was absolutely predictable: anchors and guests across the legacy media Sunday shows stepped across the line even WaPo wouldn’t, accusing Hegseth of committing war crimes and claiming those who carried out his orders might also be held to account for doing so.
But the New York Times was not quite ready to go all in on the accusation, and instead cited five officials who said that while Hegseth’s initial order was to deliver a lethal strike which would destroy the vessel and the drugs and kill those onboard—there was no specific order given regarding how to proceed if the first strike did not fully accomplish that.
I trust that President Trump had a talk with Jeff Bezos about this one.
So how did the new guys and dolls on press row do?
Matt Gaetz made his new career as a Pentagon press corps member official when the former Florida representative and failed U.S. Attorney General appointee asked a pretty sharp question—and follow-up—at a Tuesday briefing.
Now easily identifiable as a journalist by the thick, frumpy fleece with its zip-up collar partially popped over a blue button-down and tightly knotted black tie, Gaetz—who was named an anchor at One America News one year ago—was called on by Pentagon spokeswoman Kingsley Wilson, who responded to a room full of raised hands by saying, “Yes, Matt.”
“Kingsley, if Nicolás Maduro leaves Venezuela—today—what role will the Department of War have in a post-Maduro Venezuela, and what process the administration will use to determine whether or not current members of the Venezuelan military or Venezuelan government have a role in a post-Maduro Venezuela?,” Gaetz asked.
There’s the difference. The old guard wants to get Trump and his appointees. The new batch of reporters wants to get the truth.
This article first appeared on Don Surber’s Substack. Reprinted here with permission.
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