Pete Hegseth’s Attempt to Shut Press Out of Pentagon Doesn’t Hold up In Court

The court blocked a Pentagon policy that revoked journalists’ press credentials and essentially criminalized asking questions under the guise of “national security.”

A federal judge just ruled that kicking journalists out of Pentagon briefings is unconstitutional. Newsflash: revoking press passes, muzzling journalists, and forcing them to publish propaganda slop is, in fact, a First Amendment violation. It was the rare hopeful outcome of a lawsuit filed by the New York Times, alleging that Pete Hegseth had basically given himself carte blanche to shut down negative coverage of the Pentagon. Because “national security.”

The judge rightly pointed out that it’s even more in the interest of national security that the public know what’s going on. Whether, for example, our tax dollars are being poured into launching a surprise attack on Venezuela and kidnapping their president. Or, another example, being lit on fire in the pursuit of a pointless war in Iran that no one asked for.

The Pentagon was mealy mouthed about what the policy actually was, but it committed to this convoluted line of reasoning, that soliciting military personnel to commit a crime by disclosing unauthorized information is not legally protected speech.

What they’re really doing with this is criminalizing… questions. If a journalist can’t ask questions, what are we doing here?

This all started in October, when the Pentagon abruptly revoked press passes from seven mainstream journalists for, seemingly, reporting the news. Then they enacted this policy, to which anyone seeking a press pass had to sign on in order to continue doing their jobs. More than 50 journalists declined to do so and turned in their badges. Then they were all swiftly replaced by pro-Trump influencers— by which I mean people who are easily influenced by Trump to say whatever he wants.

And this isn’t even the first time a news outlet has sued the Administration over such ham-handed media censorship. Last year, the Associated Press sued after Trump kicked them out of the White House Press Briefing Room for refusing to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.”

We are in the dumbest timeline.

But This is Serious

First it was Stephen Colbert, then it was Jimmy Kimmel. It’s anyone aiming to tell the truth at CBS News, or refusing to rewrite their stories to suit Trump’s addled interpretation of reality. Media censorship isn’t the exception anymore; it’s the rule. Legacy media is caving under pressure from this Administration.

Just last week, Bari Weiss subtweeted Zohran Mamdani, costing CBS a major interview with the New York City mayor after he pulled out. It’s just another instance of her doing her masters’ bidding, by which I mean Trump, since she was installed because of her willingness to parrot the party line.

The Media is in Trouble

You have the Trump-loving Ellison family first buying Paramount and now Warner Brothers, putting them in control of fully 25% of the entire media market. That includes half of the cable TV market. It will put CBS and CNN under one roof. They’re also gutting CBS - it was just announced today that CBS News Radio will shut down after almost 100 years.

We’re talking about the outlet that broadcast Edward R. Murrow’s rooftop reports on the Nazi bombing of London live during World War II. This was the home of Walter Kronkite and Dan Rather.

This is the death knell of real, respected journalism in America. At this point, these federal judges, like the one who ruled against the Pentagon, are our last line of defense against the end of a free press as we know it.

That’s why independent media grows more essential every day. The need for it is growing at an exponential rate that even I didn’t see coming. That’s why I continue to do this work. No one can censor me. I only answer to you, the readers, and I will continue to do so.