As Pentagon reporters packed up their boxes last October and turned in their press badges, one expressed concern about how quickly journalists would be able to obtain key information if the United States became embroiled in an international conflict. Basic facts — the number of airstrikes and deaths —are paramount. Or as the reporter put: “No spin, no bulls–t.”
The exodus of news outlets that rejected the Pentagon’s press restrictions last fall returned to the forefront following the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and the start of an escalating war in the Middle East. President Donald Trump announced the large-scale military operation in a video on Truth Social rather than an Oval Office address, and offered a slew of rationales in a blitz of brief phone calls with reporters.
For the first time in more than four months, reporters from The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC News and Fox News obtained temporary passes to attend Pentagon briefings with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — all as The New York Times’ lawsuit seeking the restoration of its full-time credentials played out Friday in a Washington D.C., courtroom.
“Although we filed this lawsuit months ago, the current moment shows the need for a free and independent press covering the U.S. military is more important than ever,” a Times spokesperson told TheWrap. “The U.S. attacks on Iran and the resulting threats to — and deaths of — American troops illuminate the public’s right to access deep, impartial reporting on the military actions happening as we speak.”
The push for access and information in Washington came as journalists covered missile strikes and drone attacks 6,000 miles away in Tehran, Tel Aviv and other cities facing bombardment. Corbin Bolies caught up with network correspondents from CNN, CBS News and Fox News working around the clock to report on the conflict — at times taking shelter themselves — while grappling with internet blackouts and other obstacles.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has criticized journalists covering the war at home and abroad, with Hegseth accusing the “fake news” media of focusing on wartime casualties to make Trump “look bad,” and a State Department official accusing CNN correspondent Fred Pleitgen — the first correspondent from a U.S.-based outlet to enter Iran — of pushing “propaganda” in covering daily life in the country. (He was able to enter with permission from the Iranian government.)
“The role of journalism is to bear witness to events as they occur, to report out to audiences factually what a reporter is seeing, without agenda and with context,” CNN said Friday afternoon in a statement supporting Pleitgen. “Being able to do this from on the ground inside Iran during this conflict is of particular importance.”
That night, host Erin Burnett, in Tel Aviv, turned to Pleitgen in Tehran for his first live shot from the Iranian capital. “We seem to be in the middle of massive waves of airstrikes,” Pleitgen said, describing the fallout he has seen on the ground, how grocery stores and gas stations are operating, and life in a largely emptied-out city.
“It is really important that you are there,” Burnett said.
She’s right. Bearing witness is vital work in times of conflict — documenting the airstrikes, the aftermath and the human toll for the world to see.
TV networks go all-in
Corbin Bolies reports:
The weeklong conflict has presented one of the most difficult reporting environments in recent memory. There are few Western journalists in Iran, and an internet blackout has choked off communication with locals. There’s no discernible front line and a widening theater of war, as Iran has targeted U.S. and Israeli assets in at least a half-dozen countries.
Meanwhile, journalists have had to sort through mixed messages coming out of the White House and misinformation on social media, including AI-generated videos.
Despite reporting obstacles and personal ones – sleep deprivation, taking shelter amid missile and drone strikes — correspondents from CNN, CBS News and Fox News spoke of the importance of covering this escalating conflict.
“Whenever that next missile barrage passes, we go back up above ground, and then we go to the scene, and we report live on Fox from the scene as they are digging through the rubble, looking for survivors,” Yingst told TheWrap. “It’s an intense moment, but also it’s an important moment in our coverage, because we need to bring this story to an audience around the world.”
Check out Bolies’ illuminating piece: Missiles, Blackouts and Mixed Signals: How TV Networks Are Covering Trump’s Iran War
Plus: CNN Defends Reporter in Iran After ‘Propaganda’ Accusation
Trump’s fog of war
Rather than announcing the U.S.-Israel strikes in an Oval Office address, Trump delivered a 2:30 a.m. ET video from Mar-a-Lago, wearing a USA baseball cap. He has yet to hold a formal news conference on the war, instead giving brief phone interviews to reporters from more than a dozen outlets before his public remarks Monday.
His sporadic remarks and avoidance of public questioning have helped thicken the fog of war rather than cut through it.
The ramifications of Trump’s fragmented media strategy — whether calculated or not — are significant in allowing him to sidestep scrutiny at a moment when clarity and accountability are necessary. Trump’s willingness to personally take reporters’ calls offers the impression of accessibility, but brief phone hits are no substitute for public questioning.
My full piece is here: Donald Trump’s Muddled Iran Message Thickens the Fog of War | Analysis
NY Times v. Pentagon
If the Times persuades the court that the Defense Department’s restrictions are unconstitutional, its reporters — and potentially others down the line — could have their credentials restored and return to the Pentagon, as had been the case for decades.
News outlets were particularly concerned with the suggestion that asking sources for information could be considered “soliciting” them to “break the law” — and therefore not protected activity under the First Amendment. Beyond constraining reporting, they feared such framing could effectively criminalize routine newsgathering.
“This case is a symptom of what is an explicit war against First Amendment values that the Trump administration has been waging,” attorney Theodore J. Boutrous, a partner in the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, which has been retained by the Times, told TheWrap.
Check out the rest here: New York Times Case Against the Pentagon Heads to Court as Iran War Escalates | Analysis
Plus: Jake Tapper Flames Karoline Leavitt for Kaitlan Collins Spat Over Iran War: ‘It’s So Offensive’
David Ellison round-up
Last week, I wrote how Paramount CEO David Ellison is building a media empire in record time. During a Thursday interview on CNBC, Ellison promised “editorial independence” at CNN if the company completes its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
It’s a welcome sentiment, but it’s unlikely to assuage fears inside CNN given Ellison’s reported dealings with the Trump White House and the direction of CBS News under Bari Weiss. Ellison said that his goal is for CNN, like CBS, is to talk to “the 70% of Americans” who “identify as center-left and center-right.”
More on the Ellison/Paramount front:
Umberto Gonzalez: Why Is Paramount Hiring So Many Men With Troubled Pasts?
Lucas Manfredi: Public Interest Groups Urge State Attorneys General to Challenge Paramount-WBD Merger
Jeremy Fuster: Hollywood Filmmakers Fearful as Paramount Wins Warner Bros: ‘Different Bidder, Same Anxiety’
Also on TheWrap
Gayle King to Stay With ‘CBS Mornings’
‘CBS Mornings’ EP Shawna Thomas to Exit in Continued Show Shakeup
Axel Springer Purchases The Telegraph for $770 Million
AP Manager Rankles Staff by Saying ‘Resistance’ to AI Is ‘Futile’
Ars Technica Fires Reporter Over AI-Generated Quotes
Savannah Guthrie Details Her Eventual ‘Today’ Return: ‘I Have Every Intention of Coming Back’
Chris Hayes Sounds Off on Kristi Noem’s Ousting From DHS: ‘Spectacular and Humiliating’
What I’m Reading
“Politico founder plots new Washington newspaper war” (Max Tani, Semafor)
“With Washington Post Local diminished, other news sites step up their D.C. coverage” (Sophie Culpepper, NiemanLab)
“An Ohio newspaper has a new star writer. It isn’t human.” (By Will Oremus and Scott Nover, The Washington Post)
“Can AI Save Local News?” (Alexandra Bruell, The Wall Street Journal)
“How The Atlantic won ‘tortoise and hare’ race versus digital news start-ups” (Charlotte Tobitt, Press Gazette)
