The words just jumped off the Instagram post at me like an enormous spotlight in the midst of the darkest of midnights.
The Pentagon’s limited press facilities would no longer grant permanent housing for the New York Times, NBC, NPR, and Politico. And in their place the New York Post, Breitbart, Huffington Post and One America News would be rotating in.
You could hear the shrieks almost immediately.
The questions raised were ones I’d identify as elitist snobbery. They defied grace or any sort of acknowledgement that such changes were not only meritorious but long overdue.
How long?
Well the New York Post is the nation’s oldest newsprint, started by Alexander Hamilton. How on earth did the most daily consumed newspaper, in America’s largest city, a city that is also considered America’s news capital, not already, have their seat at the table?
And elites in both parties’ establishment circles had trouble accepting that their fellow elites at the New York Times, NPR and NBC could have possibly come under such strict scrutiny. And let’s face it once Politico’s founder went off and started Axios that outlet has become the new(er) media equivalent of the Times/NPR/NBC.
To add insult to injury One America News was included. How could that have possibly been allowed? After all they are a digital news source that at one point had been positioning themselves as an alternative to FoxNews and the politically independent and center right in a way that so bothered the establishment that they were de-platformed, and dishonestly discredited by the same people that purged Trump from social media.
Breitbart and Huffington Post are fine additions to the gaggle as the Pentagon moves forward. Much more established “new media” brands that have proven bonafides in the strength of reporting and unique voice they offer commentary from. Neither of them lack viewpoint. The difference with them is that don’t try to shade factual reporting with the sneering dishonesty of those rotating out.
It should also be pointed out that the Times, NPR, NBC and Politico will be allowed credentials and space to report. For the time being they just have to do it the old fashioned way—show up with your gear everyday and report the facts.
The move at the Pentagon is in line with Karoline Leavitt’s announcement from a week ago that the White House’s approach to greater access for more outlets appears to be an executive-branch-wide core value. I’m personally aware of multiple influencers—several even from TikTok—that have applied for White House access. (Not gonna lie, my office has applied as well.)
The bottom line is that the Pentagon and the White House (and I would suspect soon other executive branch departments will follow) are demonstrating with concrete actions that the days of corruption are gone.
Democratizing journalism isn’t simply about just filing stories. It is about an editorial meeting with people of all viewpoints seated around that table. It is allowing the center right perspective to be given voice. It is in picking which headline to lead with. And most importantly it is about reporting the truth.
In America’s earliest days news reporting had partisan perspectives. That’s why many early papers had the names “Democrat” or “Republican” in their masthead.
Everyone is allowed to come to a different conclusion on what a series of facts might mean. But the telling of those facts must be an honest one with truthful substance.
Since President Trump’s arrival on the national political scene those standards have been tossed. Major media outlets got away with rhetorical malfeasance all in the name of the greater good (which was no more sophisticated than stopping Trump.)
Americans deserved better. The Trump media departments at The White House and The Pentagon seem to grasp this and already have made substantive changes to insure it.
Like the mass firings at DOJ and FBI, like the tariffs igniting policy changes on the international stage, like the complete snuffing out of ISIS leaders this weekend, like Secretary Rubio heading to Panama immediately, like the deportations, cartel counter insurgency, and troops on our border—this President is here to change America.
He wishes no less than to return her to that place of special recognition in history as the land of the free and the home of the brave.
And what a glorious big beautiful change it is turning out to be!