This is how they win. The good guys leave, they get replaced by bad guys. Pretty soon no good guys are left.
I am personally unsure of the value of these press pools in the face of modern 'PR'; as far as I can tell, all they do is generate 'clippable' videos.
>I've held my Pentagon press pass for 28 years. For most of that time, when I wasn't overseas in combat zones embedding with troops, I walked the halls, talking to and getting to know officers from all over the globe, at times visiting them in their offices.
Without press credentials, the above becomes impossible.
You seem to be under the impression that these folks sit in waiting areas until a "press conference" is announced, then copy down whatever some talking head says and publishes that and only that.
There may well be some who do so, but that's not journalism, friend.
Upon what evidence do you base your suspicions?
I'd note that Tom Bowman (the author of TFA) has been publishing stories based upon such details for nearly three decades.
Can you point to any stories that he published, based on such information from Pentagon-based military personnel, that turned out not to be factual?
If so, please share that information. We'd all like to know.
Which podcasts? Which ex-military officers?
That's not a "gotcha," I want to listen to those myself.
edit: some NASA astronaut interviews contain interesting info about (retired) military astronauts’ careers, which tend to be interesting as well.
Can you be just slightly more specific? The two podcasts you actually named have ~650 episodes between them. Heaven knows how many are in the podcasts you didn't name.
There are definitely counter-examples (of officers who do spill real dirt to reporters), such as United States Air Force Colonel James G. Burton, but they are uncommon, don't seem exclusive to Pentagon-pool reporters, and there don't seem to be many these days.
I don't take notes on the podcasts I listen to, so I don't have episode-specific citations for you.
Fair enough and thank you for the references.
Like I said, this wasn't some kind of "gotcha" exercise.
Very much the opposite - the press pool generates a massive amount of cross-verified content for distribution to all news agencies. The agencies then clip and edit and nip and tuck the press pool coverage as they see fit.
Obviously the press pool only gets all the talking points they want them to, but also the press pool is literally there following around the president all day, so it's also really hard to hide things from the press pool.
For example, the press pool knew of Obama's smoking or FDR's wheelchair or RFK's... indulgences. As part of the unwritten gentleman's agreement they never broke news on this stuff, but they were also witness to it and recorded it for later.
> No reputable news organization signed the new rule — not mainstream outlets like NPR, The Washington Post, CNN, and The New York Times, nor the conservative Washington Times or the right-wing Newsmax, run by a noted ally of President Trump.