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I don’t hear any cheering there.
A federal judge has lifted the Pentagon’s tight restrictions on journalists’ reporting, but most Americans don’t care.
The policy that drove major news organizations from the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal to ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox News has been reversed. This is a big victory for freedom of expression.
But media credibility is at an all-time low, the result of years of bias, errors and dogmatism. That’s why there’s no sign-waving or digital high-fiving on the streets outside of people involved in the business.
Media under fire: Journalists keep raising questions on Iran war as Hegseth calls them ‘not patriots’ and ‘anti-Trump’
Compare this to the tsunami of reaction to ABC canceling “The Bachelorette” due to violent footage of its star.
Certainly, many people may not be aware of the judge’s decision, given that it is difficult for citizens to follow court cases involving President Donald Trump. It’s also a challenge for those of us who do this for a living.
But here’s why ordinary people should care.
If this administration, or a future Democratic administration, can routinely blow the credibility of reporters covering defense, the official version of how great things are going will dominate the news.
And that’s why they should take special care right now.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is named in the suit along with other defendants. (Julia Demari Nikhinson/AP Photo)
We are in the middle of a war with Iran.
In the suit brought by The New York Times, Judge Paul Friedman in Washington said, “Those who drafted the First Amendment believed that the security of the country required a free press and an informed people and that such security was endangered by government suppression of political speech.” He said, this has been happening like this for 250 years.
A Pentagon spokesman said the department is attractive.
What news outlet, regardless of political persuasion, can agree not to solicit information that has not been officially cleared for release by the War Department?
Well, there’s Mike Lindell, the guy from MyPillow, who blew up his business to enthusiastically support Trump. He regularly promotes conspiracy theories about how the 2020 election was stolen. Their LindellTV is a certified press at the Pentagon.
Pete Hegseth criticizes ‘fake news’ coverage of Iran attack, says only tragedies make front page
So is former Congressman Matt Gaetz, whose nomination as Attorney General was canceled over allegations that he paid an underage girl for sex. He now hosts a show on One America News.
So does Laura Loomer, a far-right activist and Trump confidant who has said the 2022 mass shooting in Buffalo was a hoax perpetrated by Democrats; Suggested that the Deep State used weather manipulation to cause a blizzard before the Iowa caucuses in 2024 to benefit Nikki Haley; And, during that campaign, that “Joe Biden is dying.”
So is James O’Keefe, founder of the conservative group Project Veritas, which used undercover video to capture partisan conduct and embarrassing comments in the mainstream media. He once pleaded guilty to entering a senator’s office under false pretenses, and was removed by his board in 2023 over financial irregularities.
Trump has long engaged in legal and rhetorical attacks against the media, especially in the last year. He successfully sued CBS and ABC for a settlement worth at least $16 million. He has condemned journalists whom he considers unfair and major news outlets that he considers corrupt. Trump has said that some media outlets should be prosecuted for treason over their “lies” about the Iran conflict.
At the same time, Trump provides previously unimaginable access, holding frequent news conferences and group events, and repeatedly taking brief calls from reporters and anchors on his cellphone.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, left, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Kaine speak during a news conference at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on Thursday. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
At the War Department, Secretary Pete Hegseth has also accused “dishonest” media outlets of deliberately playing up American casualties and other negative war news to make Trump look bad.
But such criticism, while warranted, is a far cry from the secretary of state’s move last October that gave her department sweeping powers to classify journalists as “security risks” and revoke their credentials. Furthermore, journalists, who routinely rely on anonymous sources, had to agree to receive information only from people authorized to speak for the Pentagon.
The judge said, he would allow only stories “favorable to or fostered by the departmental leadership”. He said the evidence showed the department targeted “disgraced journalists” and tried to replace them with people who “are on board and willing to serve.”
Imagine what the reaction from the right would be if Gavin Newsom were president and his Secretary of Defense went after journalists with conservative viewpoints.
Why Trump is framing the media’s Iran war coverage as overwhelmingly negative – rhetoric backed by FCC endorsement
Friedman linked his 40-page decision to the current military environment and even the midterms.
“Especially in light of the country’s recent incursions into Venezuela and the ongoing war with Iran, it is more important than ever that the public has access to information from different perspectives about what its government is doing – so that the public can support government policies if it wants to support them; oppose them if it wants to; and make decisions based on full, complete and open information about who they are going to vote for in the next election.”
Journalists have been asking a lot of deep questions about the war. How can the US break Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has blocked a large part of the world’s oil supply? How can Americans in nearby Arab countries be protected from Iranian drones? What about rising domestic gas prices?
The Pentagon Press Association celebrated a judge’s ruling in a statement released Friday that the new press pass policy being implemented would be unconstitutional. (Tom Brenner/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The President addressed such questions at a press conference the other day without attacking the press. He is troubled by our European allies who refuse to defend the straits. He thought the rise in oil prices would be very bad. He initially estimated a timetable of four to six weeks, but now says he could declare victory at any time and end our “infiltration.”
Trump continues to insist that our military has destroyed Iran’s defenses, and of course he is right, a reality that sometimes gets lost in the coverage.
The point is that journalists have to ask these questions during wartime. But for Pentagon reporters, who are experts, it is difficult to do their jobs without credentials. They are not “in the room”, as they say in “Hamilton”, but looking out at the huge building.
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That will change if the judge’s injunction remains intact. Defense journalists will no longer be ostracized for doing their work or for holding certain political views.
The vast majority of Americans may not care about it, but the press corps – for all its flaws and excesses – is making sure they get the whole story when the stakes are life and death.
