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'Shhhhh'

Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Every day brings a new complaint — or three — from the Trump administration about the American news media's coverage of the Iran war.

President Trump's media-bashing, often just a dull roar in the background, is an unusually loud howl right now. He is using words like "criminal" and "unpatriotic" to assail media companies. At the same time, his FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, is threatening broadcasters' licenses, and his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, is insulting news outlets from the Pentagon press briefing podium.

There's nothing subtle here. It's a multi-pronged pressure campaign to discourage independent reporting. It can be summed up in the "shhhhh" gesture Trump made toward an ABC reporter aboard Air Force One last night.

The reporter, Mariam Khan, was the TV pool representative, meaning she was there on behalf of all the major networks. Khan brought up the fact that "your PAC put out a fundraising email" using photos taken at a dignified transfer of US service members killed in Kuwait. She asked: "Do you think that’s an appropriate email to send?" Trump said yes, and that he didn't see the email, then asked, "Who are you with?"

Trump genuinely didn't recognize Khan — it was actually her first time aboard Air Force One with him. (She reported from Capitol Hill for ten years and recently switched beats to cover the State Department, Pentagon and foreign affairs.) When she answered Trump's question, he said, "I don't want any more from ABC," and looked around the plane for other questioners. 

But Khan was undeterred. She tried asking about the deaths of US service members. He didn't respond. She later said, "Can you explain why we’re sending 5,000 marines and sailors?" and he replied with the shush, adding, "You're a very obnoxious person."

Khan kept trying — recognizing, again, that she was there on behalf of CNN, Fox and other networks. She asked about the Pentagon investigation into the missile strike at the school in Minab, Iran. He said, "We don't know." She asked about the deaths of service members again. He ignored her.

Khan was exemplary. She was, as one ABC colleague said, "steady as can be." She was respectful and persistent. She refused to be shushed. 

The media-bashing betrays anxiety

As I wrote in this new CNN.com piece, the Trump admin's recent media-bashing may betray some anxiety about the war's unusually low public approval ratings — or about how the war itself is actually going.

Trump has "grown more agitated with news coverage and has failed to find a way to explain why he started the war — or how he will end it — that resonates" with the public, the AP's Will Weissert wrote yesterday. Weissert's analysis is still the #1 most-read article on the AP's website today.

Trump's frustration was palpable last night. Aboard Air Force One, he repeatedly dismissed difficult questions about the war by calling stories "fake." He accused Iran of spreading misinformation, but then spread some of it himself. 

He also went on a tear against "corrupt media outlets" in a 401-word Truth Social post. First, he accurately pointed out that fake, AI-generated videos showing imaginary Iranian military victories have been circulating. But then he falsely claimed that Iran has been "working in close coordination with the Fake News Media" to show the videos, including one especially obvious fake showing the USS Abraham Lincoln on fire, and invoked the word "treason."

In reality, news outlets like CNN and The New York Times have been debunking those videos. Over the weekend, the NYT published an excellent new piece about the "cascade of AI fakes" that "push pro-Iranian views."

 >> It was rather remarkable to hear Trump blaming AI and saying "Iran is known for a lot of fake news," since he popularized the phrase "fake news" ten years ago to demean real US news outlets, and since he personally says so much unreal stuff.

A wartime tale as old as time

Trump also endorsed the TV license threat that we covered in a special Sunday edition of Reliable Sources. He wrote that he's thrilled about Carr "looking at the licenses of some of these Corrupt and Highly Unpatriotic 'News' Organizations."

"Unpatriotic" is the key, ugly word there. Attempts to deter and discredit wartime reporting by questioning journalists' patriotism are as old as war coverage itself. 

As CNN's Jake Tapper said on "State of the Union" yesterday, "every reporter that I know wants the United States to succeed in every way. And the way that reporters help that happen is by asking questions of people in power and not blindly cheering on leaders who take the nation to war."

 >> Democratic lawmakers continue to denounce Carr's threat as being straight out of an autocratic playbook. "This is vindictive, fascist stuff," Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer wrote on X, adding, "If Carr continues down this route, Democrats will hold him accountable. Threatening broadcasters’ licenses for war coverage this administration doesn’t like is the worst thing Carr has done — and that’s saying something."