Opinion | Pete Hegseth uses the Bible to demonize the press

So, do you still think CBS News is feeling good about inviting Pete Hegseth to sit at their table at the upcoming White House Correspondents Association?

The decision to invite Hegseth to break bread seemed like an odd idea well before Thursday. After all, the Defense Secretary has been a constant critic of the press since leaving Fox News to join the Trump administration. He then infamously put a policy in place that prohibits journalists from accessing or soliciting information that the Defense Department doesn’t make available to them, including unclassified information.

As the Pentagon and press fight that out in court, Hegseth continues his attacks on the media. But that didn’t stop CBS News from asking Hegseth to be their date at the WHCA dinner. (We still don’t know if he will attend.)

Then came Thursday.

Hegseth told reporters at a Pentagon press briefing, “To the press, the press corps, to the American media, as I just can’t help but notice the endless stream of garbage, the relentlessly negative coverage. You cannot resist peddling, despite the historic and important success of this effort and the success of our troops. Troops. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out what side some of you are actually on. It’s incredibly unpatriotic.”

Unpatriotic? Relentlessly negative? An endless stream of garbage?

Let’s not forget the continuing barrage of mixed messages coming out of the White House about the war in Iran. How many times has President Donald Trump essentially said the war is over, and yet it rages on?  And for Hegseth, any reporting that doesn’t declare overwhelming American success is seen as negative.

After calling the coverage “unpatriotic,” Hegseth then launched into a bizarre attack of the press by invoking the Bible.

Here’s what he said:

“This past Sunday, I was sitting in church with my family, and our minister preached from the book of Mark, the third chapter, and in the passage, Jesus entered a synagogue and healed a man with a withered hand. The Pharisees came to watch, and as the scripture reads, they came to see whether Jesus would heal him … on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. You see the Pharisees, the so-called and self appointed elites of their time, they were there to witness, to write everything down to report, but their hearts were hardened. Even though they witnessed a literal miracle, it didn’t matter. They were only there to explain away the goodness in pursuit of their agenda.”

Then he added, “As the passage ends, the Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel against him, how to destroy him. I sat there in church and I thought, ‘Our press are just like these Pharisees, not all of you, not all of you, but the legacy Trump-hating press.’ Your politically motivated animus for President Trump nearly completely blinds you from the brilliance of our American warriors. The Pharisees scrutinized every good act in order to find a violation, only looking for the negative.”

During an appearance on air, CNN media reporter Brian Stelter called it “weird” that Hegseth attacked the press after all his time being in the press at Fox News.

That was hardly the only thing weird about Hegseth’s ramblings before the press on Thursday. In his little story, was he comparing Trump to Jesus? (This, of course, was just days after Trump posted and then deleted an AI-generated painting that appeared to show him as Jesus healing a sick man.)

Stelter said, “It’s really notable today how he seems to be speaking in terms of a holy war. It’s interesting too, this coming on the same week that Trump depicted himself as Jesus. But the insinuation from Hegseth was that doubting Trump or being skeptical of the war is like doubting Christ. He’s essentially making it sound like to question the war is to question the true will of God. He’s doubling down on the blasphemy of Trump likening himself to Jesus.”

Stelter added, “And as a journalist, I just find myself wondering if you have such an amazing story to tell about military victories, why don’t you tell it more fully? Why don’t you share more video? Open up more soldiers and airmen and Marines to interviews? Why don’t you provide more access to the press in order to be able to tell those stories? He seems more inclined to use these press conferences to portray himself as a warrior in a battle of good versus evil with the press being evil.”

Maybe CBS News can ask Hegseth about all this over the appetizers at the WHCA dinner.

Some (rare) good media news

NPR’s David Folkenflik reports that NPR has received two of the largest gifts in the public media network’s existence, totaling $113 million. The donations come just months after Congress, under the direction of President Donald Trump, voted to strip federal funding of public media.

Folkenflik writes that gifts “… will go toward fueling innovation in NPR’s use of digital technology, increasing its connection with audiences, and ensuring the viability of public radio stations after Congress eliminated all federal funding for public media. NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher said the gifts would help to set up the network and its stations for the next 50 years, beyond the radio network infrastructure that sprang up in 1970 from a coalition of community and university-owned public radio stations across the country.”

Billionaire philanthropist Connie Ballmer contributed $80 million specifically toward ensuring NPR transforms its technology. Balmer, a former member of the NPR Foundation board, is the wife of former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who now owns the Los Angeles Clippers of the NBA.

In a statement, Connie Balmer said, “I support NPR because an informed public is the bedrock of our society, and democracy requires strong, independent journalism. My hope is that this commitment provides the stability and the spark NPR needs to innovate boldly and strengthen its national network.”

Folkenflik added, “Another donor, who has elected to remain anonymous, has given NPR $33 million to build and acquire tools and services that will be shared with public media organizations across the nation. The network intends to aid stations in analyzing their audiences, marketing themselves, and raising money, among other things.”

These are the largest gifts NPR has received since Joan Kroc, wife of McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc, left more than $200 million to the network in 2003.

What they learned

Last week, my Poynter colleague Angela Fu wrote a story that rattled the AI and journalism community: “An AI company set out to fix news deserts. Instead, it copied local journalists’ work.”

Angela’s story, about a company called Nota, was the topic on the latest episode of “The Poynter Report Podcast.” Angela and MediaWise director Alex Mahadevan, a member of Poynter’s faculty who specializes in AI, joined me to talk about how the story came about and what it means for the future of AI and journalism.

On Thursday, Poynter published a piece from Nota CEO Josh Brandau: “What we learned from a failed Nota News experiment.”

Brandau wrote, “We want to be clear: this was human error,” and said that contractors at times copied and pasted material from other news stories. “That should never have happened. It violated our editorial standards.”

Brandau goes on to write about lessons learned and steps moving forward, so check out his piece.

Media news, tidbits and interesting links for your weekend review

• Axios’ Sara Fischer and Cuneyt Dil with “What’s happening during White House Correspondents’ Dinner weekend 2026.”
• The Guardian’s Rachel Leingang writes about Minnesota independent journalist, Georgia Fort, in “A journalist filmed an ICE protest at a Minnesota church. Then federal agents showed up at her door.”
• Self Magazine is shutting down after nearly 50 years, according to Roger Lynch, the chief executive of Condé Nast — which owns the magazine. Self Magazine, which covers health and fitness, has been online-only since 2017. That coverage will now be folded into other Condé Nast publications, such as Allure and Glamour.  In addition, Glamour’s international editions in Germany, Spain and Mexico are closing, as is Wired’s print magazine in Italy. The New York Times’ Katie Robertson has more.
• The New York Times’ Benjamin Mullin with “Reed Hastings to Step Down as Netflix Chair.”
• The Hill’s Dominick Mastrangelo with “TMZ’s arrival on Capitol Hill elicits both groans and curiosity.”
• The Hollywood Reporter’s Tony Maglio with “CBS Is “Developing Other Ideas” for Colbert’s Time Slot After Byron Allen Deal Ends.”
• The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand with “U.S. senator introducing bill intended to make sports TV more accessible to fans.”
• The New York Times’ Kasia Pilat with “Why Is Everyone Wicked Obsessed With This Boston Globe Reporter?”
• For The Atlantic, Josef Palermo — an artist and arts organizer based in Washington who was the Kennedy Center’s first curator of visual arts — with “What I Saw Inside the Kennedy Center.”
• And, finally, this dustup: The New York Times’ Alisha Haridasani Gupta with “Alex Cooper and Alix Earle Are Fighting. Or Are They?”

More resources for journalists

• Gain access to top courses and members-only webinars. Become a Poynter Member today. 
• Reporters and editors with ambition to do investigative journalism: Get guidance from ProPublica’s Alexandra Zayas in this five-week, hands-on seminar. Enroll today.
• Master trauma-informed reporting to cover mental health with accuracy, empathy and impact. Webinar: June 9 – Enroll now. 

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.
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