The hosts of The View heaped praise on right-wing networks Fox News and Newsmax for joining other mainstream media outlets in refusing to sign Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s restrictive new policy, declaring that “freedom of the press is an American issue.”
With Pentagon beat reporters handing in their press credentials en masse following the Defense Department’s Tuesday night deadline to acknowledge the restrictions, which media lawyers and free press advocates say would criminalize basic reporting, the ABC talk show led off Wednesday’s show with the latest developments over Hegseth’s press crackdown.
Notably, considering the long-standing animosity between The View and Fox News, the daytime program made sure to give props to the conservative cable giant for its joint statement with other broadcast news channels in rebuffing the former Fox morning show host’s prohibitive press rules.
“Yesterday, a joint statement went out from five major networks, ABC News, CBS, CNN, NBC, and, yes, Fox News, that declared that they will not sign the new Pentagon press policy,” host Whoopi Goldberg said to loud cheers from the studio audience. “And they say it is without precedent and threatens the core journalistic protections.”
Goldberg then brought up a Tuesday night segment on Fox News’ Special Report, which featured anchor Bret Baier and Ret. Gen. Jack Keane – a network analyst – blasting the Pentagon’s policy.
She noted that Keane “put things into perspective” during his conversation with Baier, which saw the former Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army criticize the department for wanting to “spoon-feed information to the journalists” to push their particular narrative.
“That’s not journalism,” Keane said on Tuesday night. “Journalism is going out and finding the story and getting all the facts to support it.”
After Keane’s comments were aired, The View’s audience erupted in applause while Goldberg nodded in approval.
With both Hegseth and Donald Trump doubling down on the media lockdown – the president, for instance, has even suggested moving the press corps “across the street” – the rest of the panel lauded pro-Trump media organizations for rejecting the policy.
“Freedom of the press is an American issue,” co-host Sara Haines said. “Which is why you’re seeing those networks – including Fox News, who don’t agree on much – coming together.”
Alyssa Farah Griffin, the show’s resident conservative panelist, referenced her time serving in the first Trump administration as the Defense Department spokesperson and commended Pentagon journalists as “the most professional people who take our national security with the height of responsibility.”
At the same time, she wanted to give a special mention to Newsmax – a network that has long appealed to Trump while running to the right of Fox – for also refusing to sign the pledge.
“I want to applaud Newsmax, a right-wing outlet, who also is not signing on to this, because they understand that this is bigger than any one administration,” she proclaimed.
While co-host Sunny Hostin took a swipe at the only media organization that has agreed to the policy, calling far-right channel One America News a “propaganda network,” Haines and liberal panelist Joy Behar snarked about Hegseth claiming that he’s clamping down on press access to stop dangerous leaks to the media.
“But this is not going to stop leaks. This is going to force those leaks inside the house. So, now, it will actually have the complete opposite ending,” Haines noted.
“It’s kind of ironic, because Hegseth is the leaker in chief,” Behar quipped, prompting Haines to bring up Signalgate, the scandal that saw Hegseth detailing secret battle plans in an unsecured group chat.
It was that controversy, which featured The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg being mistakenly added to the chat and later reporting about the security breach, that reportedly made Hegseth more “paranoid, fearful and angry” towards the media amid the embarrassing fallout.
“And by the way, if they get rid of all the press, who is [White House press secretary] Karoline Leavitt going to lie to?!” Behar joked at the end.
