:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Jon-Stewart-Pete-Hegseth-101525-9ade1a3979ed4ad6a18affb11c87e4eb.jpg "The Daily Show caves to Pentagon demands — sort of")
Dozens of journalists who cover the Pentagon have turned in their access badges rather than abide by new rules. The Daily Show caves to Pentagon demands — sort
Dozens of journalists who cover the Pentagon have turned in their access badges rather than abide by new rules.
The Daily Show caves to Pentagon demands — sort of
Dozens of journalists who cover the Pentagon have turned in their access badges rather than abide by new rules.
By Raechal Shewfelt
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Raechal Shewfelt
Raechal Shewfelt is a writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2024. Her work has previously appeared on Yahoo and in American *Journalism Review* and *The Shreveport Times*.
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October 16, 2025 12:46 a.m. ET
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'The Daily Show' host Jon Stewart and U.S, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Credit:
Matt Wilson/Comedy Central;Kenny Holston;Pool/Getty
Well, there's at least one more backer of the Pentagon's new rules for journalists, after *The Daily Show *announced its unexpected support Wednesday.
"After serious consideration, *The Daily Show* has agreed to the Pentagon's new demands regarding press access," the program's satirical social media statement began.**
Then, the reasoning behind the surprising decision was revealed: "We were going to refuse, but everyone else rejected it so hard that it honestly made us feel kinda bad for Pete Hegseth. The poor guy couldn't even get Fox News to sign on, and he WORKED for them a few months ago. Even Newsmax refused! Brutal. So we're gonna join in, just so One America isn't the only signature on this thing. It's all just too humiliating."
As of Wednesday, only the conservative One America News Network had agreed to Hegseth's new rules for reporting there. Journalists with press access cover the Defense Department regularly via interviews and news conferences. They're now being advised that they must agree to a policy that says their access will be revoked if they ask for classified information and, in some case, unclassified information.
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White House reacts to 'SNL' mocking President Donald Trump in cold open
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*The Washington Post*, NPR, *The New York Times*, PBS, as well as NBC News, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, and Fox News, were among the outlets that refused to sign on. The
Reporters who didn't agree the new rules were required to hand in their credentials and clean out their allotted space, which dozens of them did.
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President Trump photographed at the White House in July.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty
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The Trump administration has said the change is necessary for national security.
"I think he finds the press to be very disruptive in terms of world peace," Trump said of Hegseth on Tuesday. He noted that, "the press is very dishonest."
Meanwhile, the Pentagon Press Association condemned the policy in a statement, saying it "conveys an unprecedented message of intimidation to everyone within the DoD, warning against any unapproved interactions with the press and even suggesting it's criminal to speak without express permission — which plainly, it is not."**
Source: "AOL TV"
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