Venezuela Is the First Big Test for the Pentagon's Influencer Press Corps—and It's Failing

Wired · Makena Kelly · last updated January 7, 2026 – 6:06 AM

Mainstream reporters are out at the Pentagon, and right-wing influencers are in. The results are predictable, and oddly reminiscent of Iraq War-era warblogging.

In the days following the kidnapping of Venezuela president Nicolás Maduro, members of the Pentagon’s new right-wing influencer press corps weren’t reporting on the operation. Instead, they were enforcing loyalty in a manner similar to the Iraq war bloggers of the early 2000s.

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