Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has slammed news networks over their coverage of the Trump administration’s Iran war and is rooting for David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance to close a $111 billion deal to buy CNN parent Warner Bros. Discovery as soon as possible.
At a press conference on Friday, Hegseth claimed that CNN’s report that the Trump administration “underestimated the impact of the Iranian war on the Strait of Hormuz” was “fake news.”
“The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better,” Hegseth said at a news conference.
White House press secretary Caroline Levitt later called CNN’s article “100% fake news” in a post on X, writing, “CNN made the decision to publish this trash article based on three anonymous ‘sources familiar with the discussion.’ Levitt said the Pentagon has been planning for “a desperate and reckless closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran for decades, and it was part of the Trump administration’s plans long before Operation Epic Fury began.”
The headline of the White House article said, “CNN lies to undermine Operation Epic Fury’s huge success.”
CNN Chairman and CEO Mark Thompson said in a statement Friday: “We support journalism. There is a clear motive for politicians to claim that journalism that questions their decisions is false. CNN’s sole interest is to tell the truth to audiences in the United States and around the world, no amount of political intimidation or insults will change that.”
The CNN article in question, first published Thursday, reported that “while planning ongoing operations, the Pentagon and National Security Council significantly underestimated Iran’s willingness to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to a U.S. military attack.” The report cited “multiple sources familiar with the matter.” CNN reports that President Trump’s national security team has “failed to adequately explain the potential consequences of what some officials have described as the worst-case scenario currently facing the administration.”
Trump’s “preference to rely on a close group of aides for national security decision-making has had the effect of sidelining interagency discussions about the potential economic consequences if Iran responds to a U.S. and Israeli attack by blocking the Straits,” CNN reported.
CNN added a “clarification” to the article late Friday, saying: “This story has been updated to reflect additional developments and clarify that Trump administration officials have briefed lawmakers on long-standing military plans to address significant disruption in the Strait, according to one official, but multiple sources familiar with the session said there is no sign there is a short-term solution.”
Other news outlets reported that the Trump administration had miscalculated the risks associated with attacking Iran. For example, the New York Times reported on March 10 that “ahead of the U.S.-Israeli attack, President Trump downplayed risks to energy markets as a short-term concern, but that should not overshadow the mission to decapitate the Iranian regime.”
With a deal pending for Ellison’s Paramount to acquire WBD, CNN staffers have expressed concerns that Paramount Skydance will steer the station’s coverage in a direction that is less critical of President Trump and his administration.
Last fall, Mr. Ellison bought the Free Press, led by former NYT opinion editor Bari Weiss, and put Mr. Weiss in charge of editing CBS News, resulting in significant turmoil within the organization. In a farewell note to colleagues, one departing CBS Evening News producer said that under the new system, stories could be judged “not just on their journalistic merit but also on their conformity to a changing set of ideological expectations. This dynamic could pressure producers and reporters to self-censor or to avoid challenging stories that could provoke backlash or unfavorable headlines.”
Weiss is expected to take on the role of overseeing CNN once Paramount’s deal with WBD is completed. Ellison insisted CNN remains an editorially independent news organization.
Ellison said in an interview with CNBC last week that CNN’s editorial independence “will absolutely be maintained.” “It will be maintained on CBS. It will be maintained on CNN. And really, what we want to talk about is Americans who identify as center-left or center-right, and 70 percent of the world. And we want to be in the truth business. We want to be in the trust business. And that won’t change.”
“CNN is a great brand with a great team, and we absolutely believe in the independence that obviously should be maintained for these great journalists, as you know, and we want to continue to support that,” Ellison said.
