The Pentagon’s press corps, once a bustling hub of mainstream journalists grilling military officials and scrutinizing U.S. defense policy, has undergone a seismic transformation in the autumn of 2025. In the wake of sweeping new restrictions imposed by the Department of Defense, nearly every major American media outlet—including stalwarts like The New York Times, Fox News, and Newsmax—has walked away from its post, refusing to accept what they describe as unprecedented government overreach and censorship. In their place, a new generation of reporters—many affiliated with far-right or fringe outlets—has stepped in, ushering in a new era of Pentagon coverage that critics say is marked by bias, inexperience, and a willingness to toe the official line.
It all began on September 18, 2025, when Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued a memo that stunned the Washington press corps. According to Slate, the memo required all Pentagon journalists to agree not to report anything without formal authorization from the Department of Defense. By October 6, following tense negotiations, the Pentagon offered a slight concession: official sign-off wouldn’t be necessary for every report, but journalists would still need to sign an agreement limiting their access and acknowledging that any encouragement of government officials to leak information could get them branded security risks. The core of the policy, however, remained unchanged—journalists could not report on military matters unless the information was pre-approved by the DoD.
The response from America’s mainstream media was swift and nearly unanimous. Outlets from The Washington Post to HuffPost to Fox News refused to sign the agreement. As Slate reported, most reporters turned in their badges by mid-October, effectively vacating the Pentagon’s press room for the first time in modern history. Even typically administration-friendly networks like Newsmax and Fox News balked at the restrictions, as confirmed by The Guardian and Washington Post.
With the exodus complete, the Pentagon faced a dilemma: how to maintain the appearance of press scrutiny while holding tight to its new rules. The solution, according to Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell, was to credential a new group of more than 60 journalists for what he called the “next generation” of the Pentagon press corps. In his announcement, Parnell praised these outlets as “far more effective and balanced than the self-righteous media who chose to self-deport from the Pentagon,” as reported by Slate and The Guardian.
But who are these new watchdogs? According to a detailed rundown in Slate, the roster reads like a who’s-who of the American far-right media ecosystem. Among the newly credentialed are Tim Pool’s Timcast, a YouTube-based outlet whose founder has been linked to Russian disinformation campaigns; Just the News, run by John Solomon, a journalist notorious for spreading conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and the FBI; and The Gateway Pundit, whose reporter Jordan Conradson was cited in lawsuits for promoting false election fraud claims. RedState, Human Events, The Post Millennial, Lindell TV (run by MyPillow CEO and Trump ally Mike Lindell), and even Turning Point USA’s media brand, Frontlines, have all secured coveted Pentagon access.
Several of these outlets and individuals have histories that raise eyebrows. Human Events, for example, is home to Jack Posobiec, a former naval intelligence officer whose security clearance was revoked after the 2017 Unite the Right rally and who is known for promoting the Pizzagate conspiracy theory. The Post Millennial, founded by Andy Ngo, has been criticized for misleading coverage on topics ranging from women’s soccer to U.S. veterans. Lindell TV has been a megaphone for Trump’s baseless election fraud claims, leading to multiple defamation lawsuits, as reported by The Guardian. Even among the new press corps, some outlets are so obscure that their primary output is little more than posting official schedules on social media.
Arizona, in particular, has become a surprising focal point in this media shake-up. Wade Searle, once an aide to Rep. Paul Gosar and a member of the white nationalist “groyper” movement, announced his Pentagon credentials on social media, saying, “I look forward to bringing LifeSite readers news directly from the Pentagon and greatly appreciate this tremendous step forward into unprecedented transparency.” Searle, now a correspondent for Life Site News—a site known for anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ+ content and conspiracy theories—has no formal background in journalism. He is joined by Jordan Conradson, a former staffer for a Republican activist and a known purveyor of election misinformation, now reporting for The Gateway Pundit. R.C. Maxwell, a former Arizona Republican Party staffer with ties to Project Veritas, also received credentials to cover national security for RedState. Even Turning Point USA, the conservative youth organization founded in Arizona, now has a seat at the Pentagon briefing table.
Critics from across the political spectrum have sounded alarms about the implications of this new arrangement. According to The Guardian, the new policy requires that “publishing information about the U.S. military that isn’t approved in advance by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth results in expulsion from the press corps”—a rule that violates standard journalistic ethics and norms. The replacement of seasoned reporters with individuals lacking journalism experience, many with histories of spreading misinformation or extremist views, has drawn comparisons to propaganda operations in authoritarian regimes. As Slate put it, “the members of the new press corps will inevitably benefit from a veneer of legitimacy from the credentialing and from the ‘scoops’ they’re given.”
Pentagon spokesperson Kingsley Wilson, however, defended the changes, telling The Guardian that the journalists who refused to sign the agreement were “self-righteous media who chose to self-deport.” Wilson insisted the new policy was “simple” and “common sense,” emphasizing rules like wearing visible press badges and staying out of classified areas. But as The Guardian and Slate both pointed out, the real sticking point was the requirement that all reporting be pre-approved by the government—a condition that no major mainstream outlet could accept without compromising its independence.
For many observers, the episode marks a low point in the relationship between the U.S. military and the free press. The Pentagon’s new policy, critics argue, not only undermines the watchdog role of journalists but also risks turning the press room into an echo chamber for official talking points. As one columnist for The Guardian put it, “Filling the Pentagon press corps with third-rate broadcasters who wouldn’t know journalism if it came draped in a Confederate flag and holding a tiki-torch is not just embarrassing, it’s a b*tch move.”
Meanwhile, the mainstream outlets that once covered the Pentagon are left to report on defense matters from the outside, relying on their own sources and traditional investigative tools. Their access may be diminished, but their commitment to independent journalism endures. Whether the new arrangement will provide the public with the transparency and accountability it deserves—or merely serve as a mouthpiece for official spin—remains an open question, one that will surely shape the future of American military reporting for years to come.
