Pete Hegseth suggested to journalists on Friday that he knows where they’re coming from — before unloading on TV coverage of the Iran war.
“Allow me to make a few suggestions,” he said at a news conference. “People look at the TV and they see banners, they see headlines — I used to be in that business, and I know everything is written intentionally.”
For example, Hegseth suggested a headline declaring “Mideast War Intensifies” should instead read “Iran Increasingly Desperate.” He specifically accused CNN of “fake news,” before saying that the sooner Paramount chief David Ellison “takes over that network, the better.”
Hegseth’s own-the-libs style of media criticism wouldn’t be out of place at his former employer, Fox News. But it feels tone-deaf at a moment when the nation is at war — especially as polls show Americans largely disapproving of the conflict and unclear about its rationale.
The defense secretary appeared defensive in the briefing room. Hegseth said the headline “War Widening” was also “fake,” and that an “actual patriot press” would run: “Iran Shrinking, Going Underground.”
The contrast at the podium is striking: Hegseth berates the press for overplaying the intensity of the conflict, followed by Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine offering sober assessments and noting that the “heaviest day of kinetic fire” is underway.
Hegseth’s swipes at news outlets over Iran coverage come as Trump on Saturday accused the media of “want[ing] us to lose the war.” That was followed by Trump’s FCC chair, Brendan Carr, warning broadcasters to “correct course before their license renewals come up.”
Such attacks and threats suggest the Trump administration would be happy only with a compliant media that doesn’t try to hold power to account. Yet Hegseth’s aggressive posture hasn’t softened even as the Pentagon press corps has become more sympathetic to the Trump administration.
Since mainstream outlets rejected new restrictions last fall and gave up their full-time credentials, right-wing outlets filled the void. The first question for Hegseth on Friday came from a reporter at the right-wing outlet One America News Network. The Pentagon has allowed some mainstream journalists to attend recent Iran-focused briefings, though a veteran Atlantic reporter noted being shut out Friday.
The Pentagon also barred photographers from news conferences this past month after the department’s staff deemed some images “unflattering,” the Washington Post reported. Photographers from the New York Times were among the outlets barred.
“As The Times has long said: there is a clear importance and public service to allowing journalists to report fully on the U.S. military,” a Times spokesperson told TheWrap. “This includes photojournalists, who deserve access and credentialing to attend Pentagon briefings.”
A Pentagon spokesperson said that “photographs from the briefings are immediately released online for the public and press to use” and “if that hurts the business model for certain news outlets, then they should consider applying for a Pentagon press credential.”
The Times is currently suing the Defense Department to restore its previous access on First Amendment grounds, arguing that the credential process unveiled last fall is unconstitutional.
That case is ongoing. So, apparently, is Pete Hegseth’s war with the press.
Lunch with Jeff Bezos
Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos invited around 30 editors and reporters to his Kalorama home on Thursday to dive into the paper’s financials and data — and opened lunch for questions.
Bezos, standing at a long table full of journalists, appeared at ease as he fielded a variety of questions, including about Amazon MGM Studios’ decision to acquire “Melania” — which he said wasn’t meant to curry favor with Donald Trump — and why he wants to own the paper, according to sources.
The megabillionaire owner said he has turned away offers and remains committed to the Post, viewing it as an important institution worth saving. At one point, he acknowledged: “I’m stubborn.”
My full rundown of gathering his here: At Washington Post Lunch, Jeff Bezos Talks ‘Melania’ Doc, Layoffs and His ‘Stubborn’ Refusal to Sell
What’s next for VOA?
It’s been a whirlwind couple weeks for Voice of America journalists.
A federal judge ruled on March 7 that “Kari Lake’s attempt to oversee Voice of America’s parent agency, the U.S Agency of Global Media, as acting CEO was invalid, thereby voiding all of her actions — including mass layoffs that gutted the once nearly 2,000-strong agency,” as Corbin Bolies wrote in his look at how the 84-year-old, federally funded news organization hopes to rebuild.
Patsy Widakuswara, VOA’s White House Bureau Chief, whose lawsuit against Lake last year alongside two of her colleagues spurred the ruling, told TheWrap she’s more than ready to return. “If you ask me, I want to go tomorrow,” she said. “I wish I’d get an email today that says that, but we just don’t know.”
It’s unclear exactly how VOA moves forward. On Wednesday, government lawyers said the U.S. Agency for Global Media — which oversees federally-funded outlets — had no acting CEO or succession plan, and that Donald Trump needed to nominate a permanent CEO.
Trump did just that Thursday, nominating Sarah B. Rogers, the State Department’s Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, to lead the USAGM. She’ll need Senate confirmation; in the meantime, Trump tapped another State Department official, Michael Rigas, as acting CEO.
Check out Bolies’ piece here: Voice of America Looks to Rebuild After Rejection of Kari Lake
(And for a good primer on Rogers, she spoke to Semafor in January about tech, free speech and her past life as a “prolific Gawker commenter.”)
Netflix takes on Murdoch succession
Oscar-nominated filmmaker Liz Garbus said her work on Netflix’s December 2022 series “Harry & Meghan” sparked conversations about covering the Murdochs, who similarly, “by accident of birth or marriage,” were thrust into the public eye and helped shape “the reality that the rest of us get to live in.”
While family drama propels the narrative arc of “Dynasty: The Murdochs” — and is truly riveting — the series also captures the stakes.
A murderer’s row of Murdoch chroniclers narrates Rupert’s successes and how the children competed for his attention throughout, from the breakfast table to the boardroom.
“We all have families, we all have siblings we fight with, we all have parents we want to please, who we try to emulate or not,” Garbus told TheWrap. “And there can be cruelty, there can be love.”
The difference with the Murdoch family, she added, is that their “squabbles affect all of us.”
See my look at the four-part docuseries: Dissecting the Murdoch Succession, a Gilded Game With Global Stakes
Oscars during wartime
Steve Pond revisits how the Academy Awards played out in 2003, on the heels of the U.S. invasion of Iraq — as the country is now at war with Iran.
There are dramatic differences between the two eras, of course. In 2003, the war began only three days before the Oscars, prompting immediate talk of canceling the show and leading to a decision to eliminate the red carpet lined with fans and press.
In 2026, there was no outcry to cancel or delay the ceremony. When the war in Iraq started in 2003, it was the main – in fact, the only – topic of conversation in Academy Awards circles. But on the weekend when hostilities began in Iran this year, the big awards news was that “Sinners” had beaten “One Battle After Another” at the Actor Awards.
Relive the backstage drama of putting on the 2003 show, and the cheers and boos that greeted Michael Moore’s defiant anti-war speech: Remember When a War in the Middle East Completely Disrupted the Oscars?
Also on TheWrap
New York Times Newsroom Hits Record 2,300 Journalists
USA Today Taps Washington Post Veteran Jamie Stockwell as VP of News
ESPN Adds 6 Sports Writers From the Washington Post
BuzzFeed Expresses ‘Substantial Doubt’ It Can Stay in Business, Citing Continued Financial Hardship
What I’m Reading
“Everyone Now Has Trump’s Phone Number” (Michael Scherer and Ashley Parker, The Atlantic)
“Why the Global Elite Gave Up on Spelling and Grammar” (Rachel Louise Ensign and Alexandra Wexler, The Wall Street Journal)
How Jeff Bezos Upended The Washington Post (Ben Mullin, Katie Robertson and Erik Wemple, The New York Times)
“Sucker: My year as a degenerate gambler” (McKay Coppins, The Atlantic)
“Everyone Is Flocking to the Same MAGA Hot Spot. They’re Missing Something Critical.” (Ben Jacobs, Slate)
