Nearly all members of Pentagon Press Corps handed over their badges and walked out today, in protest to Hegseth's directive to criminalize 'national security' reporting
Posted by wankerzoo@reddit | EndlessWar | View on Reddit | 26 comments
Asatmaya@reddit
Cowards!
A brave journalist would have reported everything and dared them to prosecute.
AtosPortosAramis3@reddit
Report what exactly though?
They were told they would need an employee escort like every other visitor to a military base. This ain't the hill for nazis to stand on which is why they fled like the lying cowards they are.
Asatmaya@reddit
Whatever they learned.
They were told they would no be allowed to publish ANYTHING without Pentagon approval.
AtosPortosAramis3@reddit
Why lie?
They were told the rule changes are that they have to escorted around and not given access to personnel. Which means they can no longer lie and claim anonymous sources since their whole time at Pentagon would be supervised and observed the same way every other civilian would be.
This is not the hill for you or other to make a stand on considering the lying media that is acting out right now are the ones who brought all the hoaxes forward instead of debunking them like proper journalists would have.
Asatmaya@reddit
I don't think you are lying, I think you haven't looked into it.
...which was already the case. What, you think reporters were just allowed to wander around the pentagon at will?
No, the document they were told to sign explicitly said that they would require pentagon permission for EVERYTHING they published, i.e. they were no longer reporters but stenographers.
AtosPortosAramis3@reddit
Actually reporting accurately is something they have not been doing. And yes they had relaxed rules for them that are being tightened up now.
Should be simple. Press is escorted into the PRESS ROOM, they asked their questions and write down whatever they want and then they are escorted out back to the gate.
Asatmaya@reddit
...but that's not what they were being asked to sign; they are being asked to sign a document saying that they will not publish any information that the pentagon has not officially released, from any source at all.
That's not journalism, that's stenography.
AtosPortosAramis3@reddit
They are being told not to publish fake news. Not sure why you insist that the press is enshrined with a right to lie?
Those assigned to the Pentagon have a specific role, to share what they were exposed to during the Pentagon press briefing.
If they want to be opinion columnists they have a right to be that too, they just can't use a badge of a real journalist to access the briefing and then go out and lie about what was gone over in the briefing.
You seem to think that accurate reporting is a demand of a bridge too far.
Asatmaya@reddit
No, the document actually says that they have to get permission from the Pentagon for everything they report, and that they will not attempt to get information from other sources.
I'm not arguing with you any more until you actually go and read it.
AtosPortosAramis3@reddit
You admit they are being told they are not going to be ally by claiming they spoke to an unnamed source in the Pentagon. Which is why they are mad that they have wear name tags and be escorted.
Asatmaya@reddit
THEY ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE "ALLIES" OF OUR GOVERNMENT, THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THE WATCHDOGS OVER OUR GOVERNMENT!
Which is putting muzzles on the guard dogs so the thieves can steal without worry.
AtosPortosAramis3@reddit
It's called security. Plenty of corporations have conditions even harsher than that.
Most Americans do not want traitors harassing Pentagon staff until they find some fat slob who will make shit up for them just so he can say he is part of a sabotage conspiracy to his husband's boyfriend as a brag.
Asatmaya@reddit
The First Amendment does not apply to corporations; it does to the government.
Literally every poll ever taken in the US says otherwise, to a radical extent.
AtosPortosAramis3@reddit
Do soldiers have first amendment rights or do they sign a contract to forgo certain rights during their service? Are military bases under different rules and laws than civilian areas?
No one is stopping liars from printing whatever lies they want. They are just not going to do it while getting extra privileges not afforded to the rest of the citizens.
For example one of the news organizations which signed the new rules is the Gateway Pundit and they are one of the most critical of government publications out there. Yet they are ok with fair rules and not demanding special privileges.
Here is a poll
Here is another poll
Partisan Divide in Media Trust Persists
Americans' trust in the media remains sharply polarized along partisan lines, with 70% of Democrats, 14% of Republicans and 27% of independents saying they have a great deal or fair amount of confidence.
Gee why would only one party trust a very distrusted industry? Shared agenda and political cooperation come to mind.
Asatmaya@reddit
And if they want to control access within the building, that's fine; telling them that they cannot publish information that the Pentagon does not approve is not fine.
AtosPortosAramis3@reddit
They did say here are the controlled scenarios of access to the building. Those who did not accept the rules everyone else has to follow were free to leave. They were not forced or coerced into anything and plenty of others were more than happy for the privilege of access.
It is not a very complicated concept and almost every civilized country in the world does it. Someone comes on a military base, they are tagged with a name badge, escorted to only approved places and then escorted out. If they choose to write something outside of the agreed parameters of the interview they are no longer granted access to that base or other bases due to being deceivers and infiltrators.
People calling themselves journalists do not have any single additional right that regular citizens are denied. You are complaining that they are being treated equally instead of privileged.
By the way any comment on you claiming all polls support the lying media after I actually produced real polls as a fact that exposed you lying?
Asatmaya@reddit
No one cares about that; that's fine, it was the restrictions on what they were allowed to publish that is outrageous.
One news outlet!
The ones who do not have freedom of the press? Yes.
That right there is the problem; no, sorry, these people are not employees of the government, the government CANNOT retaliate against journalists for doing their job.
Absolutely; if I publish something the government does not like, they are not allowed to retaliate against me, either (you know, technically; Obama had people murdered for it...).
https://www.rcfp.org/wp-content/uploads/imported/20180905_104731_press_freedom_polling_report.pdf
95% support a free press.
AtosPortosAramis3@reddit
Not just one outlet. They replaced the whole previous contingent and this time brought it non propagandists.
The government is not telling reporters what to write and you know it. They are free to write what they wont, they just wont have the privilege of strolling through military bases.
You linked something from 2017. I gave you current latest polls. One is not like the other.
Losing unrestricted access is not retaliation. Freedom of the press has the same limits as freedom of speech. You cannot yell fire in a crowded theater. Press cannot lie and compromise national security.
If the government was not going out of it's way to baby the press they would in a neutral world simply arrested all the lying media members who spread the Russian collusion hoax.
Did Trump arrest lying media outlets or did he sue them and beat them in civil court with no power of the government applied and no criminal prosecution for committing sedition and engaging in conspiracy against the United States?
What countries outside of US and Russia do you think have freedom of the press? Because in Canada, EU, Australia and other pro NATO countries you can be arrested by the government for memes or someone claiming you upset their feelings.
Listen2Wolff@reddit
What media outlet would publish their reports?
This is equivalent to a union strike. I support it.
AtosPortosAramis3@reddit
What reports? They publish propaganda citing UNNAMED SOURCES. That is not a report, that is a lie being pushed forward hoping no one calls out the lie.
Asatmaya@reddit
Breaking Points, the Grayzone, 0-hedge, pick any of the red-flagged media outlets.
nipsen@reddit
"People who parrots the spokesperson in the paper for a living finally get an excuse to quit a job they weren't doing to begin with" (Colourized, Berlin 1930)
AtosPortosAramis3@reddit
The same people who had zero inclination to call out daily lies by pepppermint patty and the DEI hire who couldn't even bother to keep her lies coherent?
AtosPortosAramis3@reddit
Hilarious move to get all the zionists to turn in their badges.
ttystikk@reddit
Looks like there's gonna be a lot more adversarial reporting about the Trump administration War Department going forward.
GOOD
Jbear2404@reddit
Considering how failed and corrupt Western media is, basically nothing more than a CIA mouthpiece, who cares.
The "freedom of the press" is becoming less and less important when the media is the biggest propagator of lies and division.
Social media that doesn't censor(few if any but X is okayish) and people posting/sharing actual videos are now the real news. You have to go to the actual source and figure out the context yourself because the fake news either won't cover it or edit it and spin an instructed narrative.