Pentagon bars press photographers over ‘unflattering’ Hegseth photos
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The Defense Department has barred press photographers from briefings on the ongoing U.S.-Israeli military conflict with Iran after they published photos of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that his staff deemed “unflattering,” according to two people familiar with the decision who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation.
The March 2 briefing came days after a joint military strike on Iran that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Feb. 28. It was also the first time the defense secretary had appeared from the briefing room podium since June 26.
Several outlets including the Associated Press, Reuters and Getty Images sent photographers to the briefing from Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
White House principal deputy press secretary Anna Kelly declined to comment on Hegseth’s decision to shut out reporters.
The New York Times and one of its reporters, Julian E. Barnes, have sued the government alleging that the policy violated their constitutional protections of press freedom and due process. That case is ongoing, and a federal judge in Washington is weighing motions for summary judgment following Friday’s oral arguments.
After the mass exodus of reporters, which included The Post, a new, largely right-wing press corps signed on. They later received a December meet-and-greet with Hegseth and a press briefing with Wilson. But until last week, Hegseth had still not done an on-camera briefing for the new crop of media.
That changed after the strikes in Iran. Hegseth and Caine’s March 2 press briefing was initially meant to involve only newly credentialed media, but after the department requested a TV camera from the major broadcast networks, the journalists who had relinquished their badges negotiated an agreement to allow some of them in the briefing room, a lawyer for the Pentagon Press Association said in court Friday.
It is unclear whether one particular photo — or the sum total of the day’s shots — led to consternation among Hegseth’s staff. When photographers showed up for last Wednesday’s briefing they were not allowed in, according to two other people familiar with the situation who also spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation.
Since then, only the Defense Department’s staff photographers have been permitted into the briefings.
“Excluding photographers from Pentagon briefings because officials did not like how published images portrayed them shows an astonishingly poor sense of priorities in the midst of a war and is, for a public servant, not a good look,” NPPA President Alex Garcia said. “A free press cannot function if government officials decide that only favorable images of public officials may be created or distributed.”
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Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.
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Wait … there are flattering photos of Pete Hegseth?
Free speech!