STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The Pentagon press corps has gotten a right-wing makeover.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The defense secretary rolled out a new policy for covering the military a few weeks ago and told news organizations they had to sign off by the middle of last week. Nearly all the journalists, including NPR, chose to turn in their media credentials instead, and now there are new reporters in their places.
INSKEEP: Here to tell us more about that is NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik. David, good morning.
DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: OK. So the Pentagon had this announcement - we are announcing a new press corps.
FOLKENFLIK: Sure.
INSKEEP: The military announced this group of people. So who are they?
FOLKENFLIK: Well, for some of the president's, you know, strongest fans, these might be familiar names and people to whom they tune for information. For others, they may know them only through headlines and lawsuits. If you take a couple of them, think of Gateway Pundit or Lindell TV, founded by the MyPillow guy, Mike Lindell. Both Lindell and Gateway Pundit were successfully sued for defamation over claims they made supporting President Trump's lies about the 2020 race. Tim Pool is a podcaster. His outlet is among those credentialed. He was found to have - he said unknowingly, but nonetheless - accepted money on behalf of Russian state media. These aren't paragons of independent, hard-hitting journalism from at least a conventional standpoint. Others include The Federalist, Just The News, One America News Network - resolute supporters of the president in what they put out.
INSKEEP: I pay attention to The Federalist. They put out some statements essentially saying, this press policy is fine. It doesn't limit us at all. We love this press policy. We're in. But a lot of news outlets, including NPR News, that have had Pentagon credentials for decades chose to give them up last week rather than sign on to this new policy. And I want to pause to note that is across the political spectrum. Whatever you think of the politics of The Wall Street Journal or Fox News or The New York Times or The Washington Post, all the way across, they walked out. These are people who've covered the Pentagon for decades. What did they find so troublesome about the new policy?
FOLKENFLIK: Well, you heard Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Sean Parnell, his top press aide, say that Pentagon reporters are wandering all over the Pentagon, and now they'll be required to wear badges. They were always required to wear badges, and they were always quite limited in where they could go, although...
INSKEEP: Yeah.
FOLKENFLIK: ...Slightly more restricted in recent months. In reality, news outlets and reporters were asked to sign something that said, essentially, they were not entitled to broadcast, print or even ask for information that the Pentagon hasn't authorized for release. And I want to stress, that's information. That's not simply classified or national security information. It's anything the Pentagon hasn't authorized for release. Now, news outlets publish national security secrets all the time after weighing it with due care. But nonetheless, here's the Pentagon essentially saying, we have to have a rubber stamp of yes or no what you can publish. That's prior restraint that conventional news outlets aren't willing to go for.
INSKEEP: I guess I should note I've covered the Pentagon in the past. You could walk the halls, but you couldn't go everywhere. And sometimes, of course, the military is hiding information from you because they're the military.
FOLKENFLIK: That's right.
INSKEEP: But other times, they could be very open, and it was very useful for citizens who are paying for the military. So what does this mean for Americans' access to news and information?
FOLKENFLIK: Well, I think the way to think about it is that what we're going to hear from folks at the Pentagon is what Hegseth and his crew want you to know and little more. The press corps will trade the privilege of being in the Pentagon for that access to be able to beam out what the president's people want. You know, others - including Pete Hegseth's former network, Fox News - say that's not reporting. That's just transcription. They're not willing to accept that. These so-called independent journalists touted by the Pentagon right now don't feel that independent at all.
INSKEEP: It's interesting. Pete Hegseth berated the Fox News Pentagon correspondent at a press briefing earlier this year. This is not about some kind of conservative ideology. It's about who gets information and who controls it.
FOLKENFLIK: That's right.
INSKEEP: David, thanks so much.
FOLKENFLIK: You bet.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's David Folkenflik. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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