At the presser on Friday morning, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth slammed CNN over its coverage of the Iran war. As a former Fox News host, he said of the network, “The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.”
During his opening remarks to reporters, he said, “What should the banner read instead? How about Iran is increasingly desperate? Because they are and they know it.”
According to Hegseth, the new Iranian leader is “wounded and likely disfigured”, as he declares the ongoing war as a sure and decisive victory. His speech came hours after military officials announced that American service members had died in Iraq in a plane crash. This led Hegseth to spend the bulk of the presser attacking the press for publishing “fake news.”
Hegseth was accompanied by Chair of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine in the Pentagon briefing room and portrayed the ongoing war as contained. This is even as Iranian attacks strike civilian energy production sites and oil tankers across the Gulf region. So far, 11 US and one French service member have lost their lives in the conflict.
After Pete Hegseth is questioned about an article from CNN, Hegseth remarks that CNN will be far better when David Ellison, the son of mega-Zionist Larry Ellison, takes over CNN.
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“Fake news from CNN reports that the Trump administration underestimated the Iran war’s impact on the Strait of Hormuz. Patently ridiculous, of course. For decades, Iran has threatened shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. This is always what they do, hold the strait hostage,” Hegseth said during the Friday presser at the Pentagon.
“CNN doesn’t think we thought of that. It’s a fundamentally unserious report. The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better,” Hegseth said.
The network responded to remarks Hegseth made at a joint press conference on Tuesday morning with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine to update the Pentagon press corps as the Iran war ends its second week.
Earlier this month, David Ellison’s company made a deal to acquire CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery. However, Ellison stressed that CNN will maintain its current editorial independence if the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger happens.
“Editorial independence will absolutely be maintained. It’s maintained at CBS. It’ll be maintained at CNN,” Ellison said in an interview on CNBC.
Meanwhile, Ellison has taken heat from Democrats and media critics over the introduction of a former conservative think tank leader as ombudsman at CBS News. He has now promised to revamp the network’s editorial strategy for a more politically “diverse” audience. Due to this some believe this is a desire for the broadcaster to take a rightward shift.
As noted by the New York Times, the company was acquired by Paramount Skydance with a $111 billion bid following a bidding war with Netflix. However, the purchase does still need regulatory approval.
Meanwhile, Pete Hegseth regularly slams the news media over their coverage of the Pentagon and the US military and his opinion is that outlets are trying to make the US armed forces look bad.
“People look up at the TV and they see banners. They see headlines. I used to be in that business, and I know that everything is written intentionally. For example, a banner or a headline. Mideast war intensifies splashing on the screen,” Hegseth on Friday morning.
The New York Times reported that CNN said on Friday: “We stand by our reporting.”
