The state of our national media complex continues to tailspin. Behold how over just the past week we have seen corrupted coverage of Epic Fury, a major outlet willing to be a puppet broadcaster for Iranian authorities, repeated lies told about the bombing incident in New York City, and slobbering obituaries for a terrorist leader. We even had David Muir on ABC News covering the massive delays seen in air travel, and not even approaching explaining that the cause is due to the Democrats withholding funding that affects TSA agents.
It has been an amazing 2026 already, and things in the press do not appear to be trending in any direction close to improvement. The current condition of the media is such that even those in that industry appear consigned to just go with the herd mentality, results be damned.
This brings us to a new development that, while relatively minor in the broader scheme of national importance, stands out as a small but telling example of the wider dysfunction.
There has been an ongoing feud between the intelligence reporting community and the Pentagon over press access. We all watched the melodrama unfold when new press standards were issued by the Department of War, and there was a collective snit fit from the press.
READ MORE: Pete Hegseth Gives the Best Answer Ever to Pentagon Media That Have Balked at New Rules of Conduct
It was revealing when one of the complaints was over new standards preventing all floor access within the building, and many reporters declared they were never permitted unfettered access before. (If so, then why are you complaining about not being permitted to go where you had not been allowed prior?!)
There was a recent press conference regarding the ongoing activity in Iran and Epic Fury, and after that, there were many complaints from the press. One of these came from the crew at The Atlantic, where they barked that the press had mostly been barred from the presser. It was an odd claim, given that the room was fully populated with reporters from dozens of outlets. But more bizarre was seeing them mewling over press restrictions, when last year they were hailing as brave those journalists who boldly turned in their press badges in defiance of the new standards.
Now comes another stunted reaction in this vein. A new pronouncement came down that photographers would no longer be permitted at Pentagon press briefings. This was enacted, according to the Washington Post, because Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's staff declared that recent pictures taken at that last briefing had been “unflattering.” It sounds like a petty reason, but this is the report based on “two people familiar with the decision who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation.”
Ah, yes — the usual unassailable word of those who are too squeamish to go on the record, out of fear of being assailed. So they bravely run to a compliant reporter, this one being WaPo media reporter Scott Nover. You get the feel for the approach to things, as Nover mentions how Hegseth is a former Fox News host, but does not seem to think a 20-year military career was pertinent to his position. Nover’s report fails to become valid in any capacity for this reason: The Post has no standing on this matter.
It was just over a month ago that this news outlet endured a severe staffing cut. The paper decided not to trim, but cleave a significant fraction of its workforce. One-third of the staff was let go, eliminating many foreign bureaus, its sports division, book coverage, and other key elements. Also among those sent packing – its entire photojournalism staff.
So today we are told to care about barring access for those journalists, the Washington Post did not even care to keep on staff. The Pentagon explained that one representative per news outlet was permitted and that pool photographs would be made available. Then, continuing with the wry statement, the press secretary was essentially saying that if outlets felt restricted by this standard, they were free to apply for press credentials to have their photographers present.
Update:
In his write-up on this development, Nover also included that he had reached out to the White House about this development. He stated in his piece, “White House principal deputy press secretary Anna Kelly declined to comment on Hegseth’s decision to shut out reporters.”
This is a falsehood, as Kelly posted on social media that she had in fact responded to Nover’s request, and even politely instructed him to use her full quote, as she highlighted his paper not having grounds to care about this matter: “Didn’t the Washington Post just fire all of its White House photographers?”
Though he lied about her lack of a response, you can understand why he was reticent to include her quote.
Fake news “reporter” @ScottNover said we declined to comment for this story.
— Anna Kelly (@AnnaKelly47) March 11, 2026
Not true! He just didn’t like my comment because it exposes how little the Washington Post cares about access for photographers.
They just fired all of their White House photographers!
Fake outrage. https://t.co/UtvBHfjerv pic.twitter.com/nWQZ39s4BU
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