The Pentagon’s new press corps — journalists or advocates?

For years, the Department of Defense — one of the most important, scrutinized and reported-on departments in our government — has been covered extensively by reporters from inside the Pentagon. This included journalists from some of the most respected and accomplished news outlets in the business, such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC, CBS, ABC, and CNN, just to name a few. In fact, CBS’s Eleanor Watson noted, “During D-Day, CBS News radio correspondent Joseph F. McCaffrey reported live from the Pentagon about the strategy and General Dwight D. Eisenhower's background.”

CBS, like many of the top journalism outlets, has reported from inside the Department of Defense headquarters for more than 60 years.

But those outlets are no longer in the Pentagon after refusing to sign a new press policy that prohibits journalists from accessing or soliciting information that the Defense Department doesn’t make available to them, including even unclassified information.

It’s troubling which news outlets are no longer at the Pentagon.

Just as troubling is which outlets and so-called “journalists” are.

In a statement on Wednesday, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said more than 60 journalists have agreed to the new rules. He wrote that they represent “a broad spectrum of new media outlets and independent journalists.”

That’s one way to put it. Another, more accurate, way to put it is the way the Post’s Drew Harwell did. He tweeted:

All right-wing bloggers and influencers who

• agreed to the press restrictions refused by established reporters
• are known for soft-touch treatment of the Trump administration
• will now get special access to the "Department of War"

According to the Post’s Harwell and Scott Nover, the outlets now supposedly doing the digging and working the halls inside the Pentagon include Tim Pool’s Timcast, the Gateway Pundit, the Post Millennial, Human Events, the National Pulse, Turning Point USA and a Substack newsletter called Washington Reporter. Then there’s ​​the very pro-Trump One America News, the Federalist and the Epoch Times. It also includes Lindell TV — as in Mike Lindell, the MyPillow guy and ardent supporter of President Donald Trump. And, the Pentagon said, there are a bunch of "independent journalists.” Although none were mentioned by name, it’s a good guess to say that the “independent journalists” are certainly big on “independent” but not so big on “journalists.”

All are clearly OK with the Pentagon’s press restrictions. That alone should make anyone question their journalistic chops. Meanwhile, most of them have proven to be strong supporters of Trump, his administration and the entire MAGA movement.

The Washington Reporter, the newsletter that claims to be a legitimate outfit, wrote in an editorial on Wednesday that the Pentagon’s new press policy is “common sense and the media freakout is another example of Trump Derangement Syndrome. Our only concern is that the Department of War has waited until October to implement these new changes.

We support these guidelines as sound policy. We have signed them. And we are grateful for Secretary Pete Hegseth’s leadership and his remarkable track record of success.”

At one point, the editorial tried to sound serious by saying, “Let us be clear: we are not capitulating. Our reporting will remain as tough and objective as ever.”

They then showed that “objective” reporting by calling Hegseth’s tenure as Defense Secretary “nothing short of transformative,” adding, “every American should be profoundly thankful for the Department of War’s steady hand under Hegseth.”

The editorial then goes on to take shots at The Washington Post and other “left-wing hacks,” as well as airing other so-called “objective” complaints. They actually wrote this sentence: “At the end of the day, we are comfortable signing these policies in part because of who is opposed to them.”

Look, I had never heard of this newsletter until Wednesday, so it’s not as if what it says truly matters in the grand scheme of things. However, what does matter is how seriously the Defense Department takes such places. It called them the “new generation” of the Pentagon press corps.

Then there’s Pool, the right-wing influencer and podcaster. About Pool, the Post wrote, “Pool, a popular YouTuber, previously worked for a group called Tenet Media that the Justice Department said in an indictment was operated by Russian government-funded RT.”

Pool gave his reason for signing the Pentagon’s news policy in a statement, saying, “Our access is mostly for general inquiries and interviews. Should a story, for some reason, end up in our laps that may put us at odds with the Pentagon’s press policy, we will always prioritize the public’s right to know and transparency. However, given that we are not investigative reporters, we don’t expect to find ourselves in these circumstances.”

Oh, and there’s this nugget as reported on by The Washington Post: “Out of the signing outlets only OAN regularly reported from the Pentagon.”

That should tell you everything you need to know about this new Pentagon press corps.

Jared Szuba — the Pentagon correspondent for Al-Monitor, a news site based in Washington that reports on the Middle East — said in a tweet:

The US gov’t is attempting to redefine journalism. This appears to be the experiment:

1. Expel Pentagon resident press by imposing policies professional journalists can’t ethically agree to
2. Replace with pro-Trump activists, podcasters
3. Announce new “press corps” in unison

Just one more thought

As I wrote last week, just because places like The New York Times, The Washington Post and the networks are no longer inside the Pentagon doesn’t mean those places will stop reporting on the Department of Defense. But, undoubtedly, their jobs just got a tad bit harder in terms of having access to those they cover.

They aren’t, however, going to give up, even though Parnell claimed those who didn’t sign the new policy “self-deport(ed)” from the Pentagon.

Barbara Starr, who covered the Pentagon at CNN for two decades and served as a board member of the Pentagon Press Association, tweeted, “First we wish any legitimate journalist well on their journey to cover the news. But ‘your’ government announcement of a next gen press corps is shall we say beyond odd. The Pentagon press corps still is working every day no matter how afraid of it you all seem to be. ‘Self deport’? Naw. Too busy working!”

Important coverage of the coverage

Be sure to check out the latest must-read piece by my Poynter colleague, Angela Fu: “Tear gas, fear and federal secrecy: How Chicago journalists are covering Trump’s immigration policies while living through them.”

Fu writes, “Operation Midway Blitz — a federal operation run by the Department of Homeland Security — has put the entire city on edge since its start Sept. 8. As agents tear gas crowds, chase people down streets and raid homes, local journalists are left scrambling to cover a wide-ranging operation that affects their own communities. It is relentless work, made more difficult by the federal government’s unpredictability and lack of transparency. Sometimes, the journalists themselves become the news. Federal agents have detained and used riot control weapons like pepper balls and rubber pellets against media workers.”

Chicago Tribune senior content editor Erika Slife told Fu, “The amount of stories and tips and things that are happening is just nonstop. It is just a constant stream. It’s really exhausting, mentally and physically. But somebody has to record history.”

Take a moment and read this important story.

Back in the game

After a 23-year absence, the National Basketball Association returned to NBC on Tuesday, complete with the legendary “Roundball Rock” theme song. Ah, yes, it seemed like old times, although it’s an exciting new day for basketball fans.

NBC had a triumphant return to broadcasting the NBA on Tuesday night with an exciting doubleheader, a promising pregame show (despite some technical glitches) and a halftime feature with the greatest player in basketball history, Michael Jordan.

This season, Jordan is doing something called “MJ: Insight to Excellence,” which will be a regular feature on NBC broadcasts throughout the season. Details on exactly what Jordan’s role will be are murky. It would appear, at least initially, that it's Jordan sitting down with NBC’s Mike Tirico to answer whatever questions Tirico has. That’s how the first edition played out during halftime of Tuesday night’s game between the Houston Rockets and defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder. That pretaped segment lasted just over three minutes.

Sports Illustrated’s Ryan Phillips wrote, “Honestly, the segment was far too short. It was like a trailer for Jordan's segments instead of an actual segment itself. If that was going to be the case, it should have aired last week to hype up his debut or something, not on the first night of the 2025–26 season.”

Jordan talked about how much he missed basketball and his reason for being a part of NBC’s broadcast, even though he rarely does interviews anymore. He said he wants to “pay it forward” and that he wants to “pass on messages of success and dedication to the game of basketball.”

Phillips added, “NBC has hyped Jordan's future contributions to its NBA coverage for a while now, and his first segment landed with a bit of a thud. Yes, it was cool seeing the greatest basketball player of all time on television for a big broadcast, but there was little substance to it.”

But the fact that it was Jordan might be enough for some. Podcaster and mega-NBA fan Bill Simmons of The Ringer said, “I can’t think of a single thing during the halftime thing that happened, and I realize it doesn’t really matter what he says. His insights, his observations, his thoughts about the league, it just doesn’t matter. Because anything he says, I’m captivated. He told some story about how he rented a house, there was a basketball court. I didn’t even know what happened, and I was nodding like, ‘Yeah, this is great Michael Jordan.’ He might be the first person who’s ever been on a pregame or halftime show where I literally don’t care what he says. I just like having him around. It’s just nice to have MJ.”

Next week, Jordan will talk about load management — the NBA strategy of players taking games off so they can stay healthy for the long regular season and playoffs.

While I generally agree with Simmons that it’s great to have Jordan back on TV, at some point he will have to say something substantive to make the segments worthwhile.

Meanwhile, TNT no longer has the NBA, but its longtime studio show, the well-respected "Inside the NBA," carries on with the regular cast of Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal and Kenny Smith. It's now on ESPN and made its season debut Wednesday night. I'll have more on that transition in Friday's newsletter.

Media tidbits

• The Wall Street Journal’s Joe Flint with “Warner CEO’s Future Hangs in the Balance.” Flint writes, “It is David vs. Goliath in the fight for the future of Warner Bros. Discovery. Warner Discovery Chief Executive David Zaslav is in the fight of his professional life to stop the company from being swallowed by Paramount, the rival entertainment giant controlled by David Ellison. Ellison has financial backing from his father Larry Ellison, the world’s second-richest man.”
• And here’s the New York Post’s Charles Gasparino with “Paramount Skydance boss eyes Warner Bros. Discovery purchase— and Trump is in his corner.”
• The New York Times announced that reporter Jodi Kantor is joining the paper’s Supreme Court reporting team full time. Kantor has been covering Supreme Court issues occasionally over the past few years. A seasoned journalist, Kantor is probably best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning work with colleague Megan Twohey, covering the Harvey Weinstein case that helped launch the #MeToo movement.
• For Harper’s Magazine, Jelani Cobb, Taylor Lorenz, Jack Shafer and Max Tani with “Why Doesn’t Anyone Trust the Media?”
• For New York Magazine, Madeline Leung Coleman with “Susan Orlean Knows She’s Had a Charmed Career.”
• For The New York Times, Laura Miller with “Harper Lee’s Conflicted Loves Emerge in a New Collection.”

Hot type

• The Atlantic’s Kaitlyn Tiffany with “A ‘Death Train’ Is Haunting South Florida.”
• Also in The Atlantic, Alan Taylor with something you’ll find fun and interesting: “Winners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2025.”
• Great idea from The New York Times and Esther Zuckerman. If you thought the brazen robbery at the Louvre was like something out of a movie, here’s “Watch These Six Heist Movies.” (And check out the reader comments for even more good heist movies.)

More resources for journalists

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• Interested in learning more about funding local news? Start here.

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at [email protected].

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