Days after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth railed against a hypothetical news headline and demanded a more patriotic media, his former employer, Fox News, ran a banner with the exact words he denounced.
Hegseth berated the press during a briefing on Friday over coverage of U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, as the war has engulfed the Middle East since February 28.
The former Fox News host groaned that a TV news banner or headline might read “’Mideast War Intensifies’…alongside visuals of civilian or energy targets that Iran has hit, because that’s what they do.”
He instead suggested the hypothetical headline should read: “Iran Increasingly Desperate,” and slammed the media for not covering President Donald Trump’s war in a way the White House would prefer. ”They know it and so do you, if it can be admitted,” he added.
Coincidentally, Hegseth’s former employer, Fox, ran an interview with its Chief Foreign Correspondent, Trey Yingst, on Sunday with a chyron banner reading: “Mideast War Intensifies.”
The serendipitous moment was first noted by @BadFoxGraphics on X and later shared on the newsletter for CNN’s Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter. The Independent has contacted the Department of Defense for comment.
Trump and other administration officials’ typical lashings targeting news media has been amplified since the start of the war in Iran, with officials accusing U.S. media of spreading false information to try and change Americans’ perceptions about the war.
The president went on a rant against “corrupt media outlets” in a Truth Social post Sunday, claiming without evidence that Iran has been “working in close coordination with the Fake News Media” to distribute AI-generated videos showing Iranian military victories.
“You can say that those Media Outlets that generated it should be brought up on Charges for TREASON for the dissemination of false information!” Trump wrote.
While AI-generated and false videos about the war have been spreading at an alarming rate online, credible news organizations have not been sharing them — despite Trump’s claims.
Trump then accused “the Radical Leftwing Press” of purposefully publishing the false information and bragged that the U.S. was decimating Iran, echoing a claim often made by members of the administration.
The president also lashed out at reporters who asked questions about the conflict in Iran during a press briefing aboard Air Force One on Sunday, slamming ABC News as “maybe the most corrupt news organization on the planet.”
Ever since Trump ordered lethal strikes on Iran last month, resulting in the deaths of over 1,300 Iranians and at least 13 U.S. service members, White House officials have criticized the media’s coverage of the war, accusing some outlets of spreading false information to try and sway public opinion.
As a result, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr said broadcasters’ licenses could be revoked for coverage of the war that the White House perceives as unfair.
Trump said he was “thrilled” to see Carr “looking at the licenses of some of these Corrupt and Highly Unpatriotic ‘News’ Organizations.”
