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News outlets push back on Pentagon's new reporting restrictions · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: Happening tonight, a big moment for one of TV's most
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  Speaker 1: iconic programs. Sixty Minutes is back for its fifty eighth season,
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  Speaker 1: but this year with a new person in charge for
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  Speaker 1: for Executive producer Bill Owens stepped down in April, saying
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  Speaker 1: it had become clear that he would no longer be
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  Speaker 1: allowed to make independent decisions based on what was right
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  Speaker 1: for the show. That came after Paramount agreed to pay
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  Speaker 1: sixteen million dollars to President Trump over an interview with
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  Speaker 1: then Vice President Kamala Harrison run up to the election
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  Speaker 1: last fall. And joining me now is CNN Chief media
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  Speaker 1: analyst Brian Stelter to talk about it? Good morning, Brian,
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  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining us. Well, the sixty Minutes
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  Speaker 1: newsroom has faced intense political pressure from President Trump. Is
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  Speaker 1: that going to be continuing into this new season?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah? This was an ugly chapter for sixteen minutes last season,
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  Speaker 2: and it was all because of the President's lawsuit against
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  Speaker 2: the news magazine. That lawsuit was always ridiculed by legal
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  Speaker 2: experts for being frivotless and meritless, but because Paramount was
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  Speaker 2: trying to get a merger approved by the Trump administration,
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  Speaker 2: it felt pressure to actually pay the president ultimately about
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  Speaker 2: sixteen million dollars towards future presidential library. This kind of
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  Speaker 2: payoff or shakedown is something that it now appears to
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  Speaker 2: be a playbook for the President and for his allies.
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  Speaker 2: So that paramount story received a lot of attention last
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  Speaker 2: season and sixty minutes. It also threw the news magazine
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  Speaker 2: into real turmoil. I heard about screaming matches behind the
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  Speaker 2: scenes at the CBS News offices. But now, as you mentioned,
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  Speaker 2: a new leader is in place at the news magazine.
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  Speaker 2: A news season starts tonight, and I think viewers are
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  Speaker 2: going to be watching to see if the product has
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  Speaker 2: changed at all, if it has been watered down at
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  Speaker 2: all to appease the President. I don't have any reason
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  Speaker 2: to believe that's the case, but I think that's one
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  Speaker 2: of the concerns that some viewers have at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: We know that. Tonight, there's an interview with Utah Governor
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  Speaker 2: Spencer Cox about his very moving public comments in the
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  Speaker 2: week of Charlie Kirk's assassination. There's also a profile of
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  Speaker 2: UFC boss and Trump ally at Dana White. So a
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  Speaker 2: notable moment for the new magazine as it tries to
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  Speaker 2: move past all that drama from last season.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, well then can you also tell us
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  Speaker 1: about the Pentagon's new demand for the press to sign
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  Speaker 1: a pledge to not obtain or used unauthorized material in
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  Speaker 1: their reporting. I mean, this is very unprecedented.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's coming to a head in the next few days.
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  Speaker 2: This is a letter that the Pentagon sent out to
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  Speaker 2: all the reporters who have credentials in order to access
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  Speaker 2: the Pentagon complex. These reporters were told off to sign
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  Speaker 2: a pledge, and among the details in that pledge is
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  Speaker 2: a promise not to report on any unauthorized information. Essentially,
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  Speaker 2: the Pentagon only wants beat reporters to repeat Pentagon talking points,
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  Speaker 2: anything that has leaked to them, any sensitive or unauthorized
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  Speaker 2: information that would be grounds for revoking a press pass. Now,
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  Speaker 2: ultimately this is going to mean that reporters will not
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  Speaker 2: have as much access to the physical Pentagon property. They
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  Speaker 2: won't be able to interact with spokespeople and with military
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  Speaker 2: officials who work in the Pentagon. And ultimately that may
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  Speaker 2: be what take seth once. That may be what the
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  Speaker 2: Defense Secretary wants by trying to push the press out.
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  Speaker 2: He's been trying to do this in various ways all
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  Speaker 2: year long, but this pledge is the most shocking example yet,
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  Speaker 2: and many news outlets are talking about taking legal action
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  Speaker 2: or just deciding not to sign it and not to
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  Speaker 2: be able to report from the Pentagon. It's important to
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  Speaker 2: keep an eye on this because one of those many
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  Speaker 2: examples of the Trump administration trying to restrict access. But
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  Speaker 2: you know what happens when access is restricted, Journalists just
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  Speaker 2: find other ways to tell the stories. Sometimes it is
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  Speaker 2: better to be on the outside than it is to
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  Speaker 2: be on the inside. So in the case of the Pentagon,
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  Speaker 2: sometimes you're going to get better information, better leaks, more
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  Speaker 2: important stories from the outside. We'll see how that happens
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  Speaker 2: in this case.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and Brian, you're out with a new column for
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  Speaker 1: Seeing on dot com about consumer pushback helping Jimmy Kimmel
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  Speaker 1: get back on the air. I mean, what's the takeaway there?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, all of this related in a way because we're
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  Speaker 2: talking about paramount and having it settle with Trump over
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  Speaker 2: sixty minutes talking about new press restrictions employed by the administration. Well,
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  Speaker 2: look at what happened in the last two weeks with
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  Speaker 2: Jimmy Kimmel as an example of effective pushback, the pushback
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  Speaker 2: that helped get Jimmy Kimble back on the air, first
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  Speaker 2: at ABC nationally, then with Sinclair and Nexstar giving in
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  Speaker 2: and ending the blackout on local stations. It's a sign
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  Speaker 2: the consumer pushback works. It's a sign that the media
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  Speaker 2: marketplace is driven, yes by free speech, but also by
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  Speaker 2: the free market. And so in the case of Kimmel,
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  Speaker 2: I have a comment about this on CNN dot com
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  Speaker 2: this weekend. In the case of Kimmel, you have so
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  Speaker 2: many frustrated fans calling stations, You had advertisers feeling the pressure,
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  Speaker 2: you had employees on feeling the pressure. All of that
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  Speaker 2: really contributed to Kimmel's reinstatement by ABC and to the
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  Speaker 2: end of the local station blackout. And I've seen a
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  Speaker 2: lot of folks point out this weekend this may be
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  Speaker 2: a model in other situations going forward, because Trump administration
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  Speaker 2: pressure is not going away. But one of the effective
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  Speaker 2: responses is that kind of consumer pushback or backlash that
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  Speaker 2: we saw in the case of Kimmel.
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  Speaker 1: Well, as we know, Brian Money Talks, thanks so much
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  Speaker 1: for joining us this morning and thanks for your reporting.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you well.
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  Speaker 1: When Jimmy Kimmel was suspended from ABC. It did spark
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  Speaker 1: national and national outcry over free speech and censorship, as
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  Speaker 1: we were just talking about. In tonight's episode of The
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  Speaker 1: Whole Story with Anderson Cooper, Senaun's Jake Tapper takes a
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  Speaker 1: closer look at how the Kimmel suspension unfolded and the
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  Speaker 1: story behind the decision to bring him back on air.
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  Speaker 1: He also examines the role of the government and big
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  Speaker 1: business in the case and what this says about the
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  Speaker 1: future of the First Amendment.
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  Speaker 3: Well, Jimmy Kimmel is back on the air. Charlie Kirk's
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  Speaker 3: voice was silenced forever when he was killed, and in
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  Speaker 3: this time of escalating partisanship, both sides can hopefully at
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  Speaker 3: least agree on this. The First Amendment is a right
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  Speaker 3: that is fundamentally American. Are we in an era where
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  Speaker 3: free speech is under an attack in a way we
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  Speaker 3: haven't seen in a long time.
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  Speaker 4: I'm pretty worried right now. I think we are in
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  Speaker 4: a perilous stage. And again, we have a president who
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  Speaker 4: was willing to use use any lover of power against
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  Speaker 4: his enemies, whether it violates the First Amendment or not.
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  Speaker 1: Well, be sure to tune in in an all new
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  Speaker 1: episode of the Whole Story with Anderson Cooper that airs
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  Speaker 1: tonight at nine pm Eastern only on Sannon