from the ALL-THE-NEWS-WE’LL-LET-YOU-PRINT dept
Going forward, the only thing you’ll hear reported from the Pentagon will be delivered by subservient, right-wing stenographers. The War Department has its own Ministry of Truth, staffed by people whose organizations have seen their fortunes rise along with Trump’s. The bootlicking was always there. The only change is that it’s now officially state-sanctioned.
The administration doesn’t care how this looks. It only cares that it got what it wants. Not only did it break with tradition by demanding journalists agree to play by the administration’s rules if they wanted access to the Pentagon and military officials, it broke with tradition by proudly proclaiming its victory over the First Amendment on the social media platform most devoted to stifling criticism of authoritarians:
Nearly one week since a rash of Pentagon journalists turned in their press credentials after refusing to sign a new restrictive press policy, the Defense Department announced a “new media” press corps, largely hailing from right-wing outlets.
The 60 people from various news organizations represent, “a broad spectrum of new media outlets and independent journalists,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell wrote in a statement Wednesday on X, adding that all of the publications agreed to the agency’s press policy.
There’s a lot to be appalled by/mock endlessly going on here. First, there’s the fact that this plan will be carried out by other federal agencies since it worked out perfectly here. Second, there’s no “broad spectrum” here, unless you consider multiple people saying the same things with the same pro-Trump deference a hot new take on journalistic freedom.
Then there are the people generously being called “journalists” by a man speaking for an agency being concurrently fellated by at least a couple of dozen extremely right-wing publications. No one would call these people “journalists,” perhaps not even those being called “journalists” by the DoD spokesman.
Brace yourself. It gets ugly immediately.
According to a draft of the announcement obtained by The Washington Post ahead of Parnell’s tweet, the coalition of signatories includes the cable network Real America’s Voice, streaming service Lindell TV (started by MyPillow CEO and Trump ally Mike Lindell), the websites the Gateway Pundit, the Post Millennial, Human Events, the National Pulse, and RedState. It also includes Turning Point USA’s media brand Frontlines, as well as influencer Tim Pool’s Timcast, and a Substack-based newsletter called Washington Reporter.
Yep, it’s a broad spectrum of conspiracy theorists, bigots, and people most likely to be named as a defendant in a legitimate defamation lawsuit. (And most likely to be a plaintiff in a bogus lawsuit.)
While the Defense Department was proud to announce it had ousted actual journalists from the Pentagon, it was a bit more cagey when it came to naming the ones who decided to stick around. Parnell bragged on X, but actual journalists had to ask some questions to come up with a list of those who swore an oath of fealty to Papa Doc Don or whatever the fuck it is we’re calling Donald Trump these days.
What’s more surprising is the list of people who left. I’m not talking about the expected ex-pats or the ones already kicked out by the Pentagon (NPR, New York Times). I’m talking about Trump proxies like Newsmax, Fox News, and the Daily Caller. These outlets — despite spending most of their time ensuring the administration always has a bullhorn to borrow — also thought the Pentagon’s demands were inappropriate, which left only the weirdest and worst of the right wing media in place to do the government’s bidding.
And this demand was even too much for one writer who worked for a right wing outlet that has spent the Trump years (which includes the Biden years) further distancing itself from anything that could be considered credible reporting — the Epoch Times — found both the DoD demand and his (now former) employer’s concession too much to stomach:
A national security reporter at the right-wing Epoch Times newspaper has resigned after the publication signed on to rules restricting news gathering within the Pentagon.
The reporter, Andrew Thornebrooke, submitted his resignation in writing on Friday. Although he did not have an active Pentagon press pass, he regularly covered issues related to the Defense Department and frequently reported from the cavernous military complex while working at the publication.
In his resignation email, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Thornebrooke called The Epoch Times’s signing of the pledge a choice to “abdicate our responsibility as journalists in favor of merely repeating state narratives.”
Thornebrooke also took issue with an editorial directive to refer to antifa as a “terrorist organization” despite there being no evidence it’s an “organization” (rather than an ideological movement), much less involved in terrorism.
This is censorship that isn’t even pretending to be something else. The public statements declaring a new “press” corp are just a victory lap by brutish people who have the audacity to claim they have the moral high ground while shitting all over the rights their predecessors fought and died for.
Filed Under: 1st amendment, censorship, defense department, free speech, journalism, pete hegseth, propaganda, trump administration
Companies: epoch times, federalist, gateway pundit, human events, lindelltv, mypillow, national pulse, oan, redstate, the post millennial, timcast, tpusa
