CNN became a focal point of a Pentagon briefing on the ongoing conflict in Iran on Friday, with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (himself a former cable news host), trashing the news channel from the podium.
The subject of Hegseth’s ire was a story from CNN that said the Trump administration had underestimated Iran’s ability to effectively shut down marine traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
Hegseth blasted the report as “more fake news from CNN.”
“No quarter, no mercy for our enemies. Yet some in the press just can’t stop,” Hegseth said. “The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.”
A CNN spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter “we stand by our reporting.”
Ellison, of course, is the CEO of Paramount Skydance, and he just inked a $111 billion deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, including CNN. At CBS News, Ellison installed Free Press founder Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief. Weiss has been seeking to remake CBS News, including by adding more voices to its coverage, much to the consternation of some and the delight of others.
There is clearly an expectation that should the WBD proceed, similar changes would come to CNN. Ellison, it should be noted, praised CNN at a town hall on the Warner Bros. lot earlier this week, promising editorial independence for the channel (he has also said that CBS News has editorial independence under Weiss).
Hegseth has sought to tighten press access to the Pentagon in recent months. First, effectively all Pentagon reporters lost access to their press badges and office space after refusing to agree to new burdensome reporting rules.
And this week the Pentagon barred press photographers from Iran briefings over photos that were deemed unflattering, according to a Washington Post report.
Hegseth’s former Fox News colleague Jennifer Griffin called him out Thursday night while accepting an RTDNA First Amendment Award at RTDNA’s annual dinner at The Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC.
“I’m concerned that during this time of war, that news organizations, which have reported uninterrupted from inside the Pentagon since 1947, are no longer given that access,” Griffin said. “If it hadn’t been for reporters inside the Pentagon with USA Today, we wouldn’t have known about how the Marines were blocking the MRAP program. Those MRAPs saved the lives of some of the people who right now are curtailing press freedoms at the Pentagon. We wouldn’t have known without The Washington Post’s Dana Priest about the Walter Reed scandal. This is what the Pentagon Press Corps has done over the years.”
