Pentagon announces ‘new’ press corps filled with conservative news outlets

Several conservative media outlets said Wednesday that they have accepted a new press policy rejected by virtually all traditional media outlets and will take their place at the Pentagon to cover Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the U.S. military.

The Pentagon’s new press corps will include Gateway Pundit, National Pulse, Human Events, podcaster Tim Pool, the Just the News website founded by journalist John Solomon, Turning Point USA’s Frontlines and LindellTV, led by “MyPillow” CEO Mike Lindell.

The Pentagon’s announcement came less than a week after dozens of journalists from outlets including the New York Times, the Associated Press, CNN and the Washington Post surrendered their access badges rather than agree to a policy that journalists said would limit them to covering information approved by Hegseth.

Hegseth spokesman Sean Parnell announced the “next generation” of the Pentagon press corps, with more than 60 journalists agreeing to the new policy. He said 26 journalists who were previously part of the press corps were among the signatories. The ministry would not say who one of them was, but several media outlets republished its message about X saying they had signed.

There is not even unanimity among organizations that address conservative consumers. Fox News Channel, by far the most popular news source among President Donald Trump’s fans, was among the walkouts, as was Newsmax.

In an article on X, Parnell denounced the “right-thinking media who have chosen to expel themselves from the Pentagon.”

“Americans have largely given up on digesting their information through the prism of activists posing as journalists in the mainstream media,” Parnell wrote. “We look forward to building a new relationship with members of the Pentagon’s new press corps.”

Journalists who left the Pentagon have continued to cover the US military. Many have aggressively reported, for example, stories of strikes against boats in Central America allegedly involved in drug trafficking.

By not being at the Pentagon, “journalists will have to work harder, there’s no question about it,” said Barbara Starr, a retired longtime Pentagon reporter from CNN.

“But the real price is paid by the American people and American military families,” Starr said. “Military families with sons and daughters serving want to know everything, and they want to know it quickly. »

Starr wondered about Hegseth: “What is he so afraid of?” New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote a scathing article about the defense secretary this weekend titled “Fraidy-Cat at the Pentagon.” But Hegseth’s boss, President Trump, has expressed support for the new media policy, and Hegseth’s aggressive moves mirror some of those taken by the administration. The president has sued media outlets like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal for covering his situation.

Some of the media outlets that agreed to Hegseth’s rules will need to recruit staff for their new roles: Just the News, for example, posted an online ad seeking a Pentagon reporter.

Gateway Pundit White House correspondent Jordan Conradson said Wednesday he was excited to join the Pentagon press corps “and help restore honest journalism after agreeing to follow the ground rules… something the mainstream media refuses to do!”

Lindell, whose My Pillow ads covered Fox News before joining political media, released a statement that LindellTV was “proud to be part of a new generation of news organizations that are reshaping the way real-world news reaches the public.”

Some publications declare themselves conservative in their mission statements. The National Pulse’s “about” page features a photo of Trump.

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David Bauder writes for the AP about the intersection of media and entertainment. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social