The Pentagon’s Pet Press
On Monday, just three days after Donald Trump ordered U.S. military forces to carry out a stunning operation in Venezuela and seize its authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth embarked on what the Pentagon has dubbed the “Arsenal of Freedom Tour,” a multi-state swing aimed at promoting the country’s defense industrial base. Previous defense secretaries, of course, would typically travel with members of the national press. But aside from the assigned television pool reporter (on Monday, that role fell to CNN), Hegseth was accompanied by a very different cast of media figures.
According to people familiar with the matter, the Pentagon extended invitations not to the established press corps, but to a collection of right-wing outlets the administration has actively sought to elevate. Invited media figures included Fox News Digital’s Morgan Philips, Lindell TV’s Heather Mullins, and The Federalist’s Shawn Fleetwood. One invited figure, John Konrad of the niche maritime outlet GCaptain—a member of what the Pentagon has dubbed its “new” press corps—made little effort to conceal his admiration for Hegseth, publicly gushing about him in multiple social media posts and volunteering, “I voted so hard for this 🇺🇸.”
And Konrad went even further. According to people familiar with the matter, he was overheard…
The rest of this story is for paid subscribers only.
Already a subscriber? Sign in.
Scoop-driven reporting and sharp-edged analysis. See why The Wall Street Journal declared Status a “must-read.”
Tony Dokoupil anchors the “CBS Evening News.” (Screen grab via SnapStream)
Dokoupil’s Debut: Tony Dokoupil on Monday made his official debut as anchor of the “CBS Evening News,” just days after being panned for vowing to be “more accountable and more transparent” than the legendary CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite. Outside the political shadow cast by David Ellison and Bari Weiss in which the broadcast aired, technical gremlins marred the program. An embarrassing on-screen error led to confusion over which segment the anchor was supposed to be presenting—causing Dokoupil to get quite flustered and concede to “big problems here” on the first day. And somehow Dokoupil found time to…
The remainder of this newsletter is for paid subscribers only.
Scoop-driven reporting and sharp-edged analysis. See why thousands of industry professionals rely on Status.
Already a subscriber? Sign in.
A subscription gets you full access to our nightly newsletter, which includes:
✅ Essential reporting on and analysis of the Fourth Estate, Silicon Valley, Hollywood, the Information Wars, and more.
✅ Hand-curated links to the most consequential stories moving the needle in the key corridors of the industry.
✅ Unlimited access to our online archive where you can read previous editions of the newsletter.
Related Knowledge Center: The White House vs. the press
Whether it’s the Des Moines Register’s publication of an unfavorable election poll, a routine edit of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, or the Associated Press’s decision in its authoritative stylebook to continue to use “Gulf of Mexico,” Donald Trump and the White House have used executive authority and legal reprisals in an effort to punish and suppress press coverage that runs contrary to the administration’s preferred narratives.
Democracy and politics | Signalgate | The CBS submission | Voiceless America
Related Knowledge Center: The CBS submission
Corporate pressure has led to capitulation by CBS News in a number of conflicts with the Trump regime — including its newly ideological coverage philosophy.