Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth gave another media critique at a Pentagon press conference on Friday, this time singling out a CNN report that the Trump administration underestimated the war’s impact on the Strait of Hormuz.
The strait, controlled on three sides by Iran, is the choke point for shipping from the region.
The report, citing unnamed sources, was that Trump’s national security team “failed to fully account for the potential consequences of what some officials have described as a worst-case scenario now facing the administration.”
Hegseth said, “Patently ridiculous, of course. For decades Iran has threatened shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. This is always what they do. Hold the Strait hostage. CNN doesn’t think we thought of that. It’s a fundamentally unserious report. The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.”
Ellison is the CEO of Paramount, which has a deal in place to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN.
A CNN spokesperson said of Hegseth’s comments, “We stand by our reporting.”
Barbara Starr, former CNN Pentagon correspondent, posted a message to Hegseth on X, “CNN has had personnel in combat zones for decades. CNN has had killed and wounded and all with lives changed forever. You have a legal and moral obligation to defend the free press, even the ones you don’t personally like.”
She added, “And btw how extraordinary if you countered what you don’t like with facts? Flood the zone with actual information rather than vanity statements. Always possible Mr. Ellison wont appreciate your public comments about him.”
Hegseth has previously criticized the media at other briefings on the Iran war, claiming that the spotlighting of U.S. military tragedies in the war was an effort to “make the president look bad.”
At Friday’s briefing, Hegseth continued to criticize coverage in general. “For example, a banner, a headline, ‘Mideast War Intensifies,’ splashing on the screen the last couple of days, alongside visuals of civilian or energy targets that Iran has hit because that is what they do. What should the banner read instead? How about ‘Iran increasingly desperate’? Because they are. They know it and so do you. If it can be admitted.”
During his tenure, the former Fox & Friends Weekend host has sought to impose new restrictions on press access to the Pentagon. Last year saw an exodus of much of the traditional Pentagon press corps after they refused to sign on to a policy that media attorneys said was an effort to limit their reporting to official Defense Department channels.
This week, The Washington Post reported that the Pentagon prohibited print press photographers from the briefings after photos were published that Hegseth’s staff said were “unflattering.” The New York Times said that its photographers had been restricted. The Times said in a statement, “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. This includes photojournalists, who deserve access and credentialing to attend Pentagon briefings.” The Post reported that still photographers continued to be banned at Friday’s briefing.
Ellison has said that the independence of CNN “needs to be maintained” under its new ownership.
That said, there has been extensive scrutiny to the changes at CBS News, which Ellison acquired last year as part of the Skydance deal for Paramount. He hired Bari Weiss, the founder of center-right site The Free Press, as the news division’s editor in chief.
More to come.
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