The US Defense Department has banned press photographers from briefings on the ongoing conflict with Iran after published photos of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were deemed "unflattering" by his staff, The Washington Post reported last Wednesday.
Hegseth appeared at the briefing room podium on March 2nd, just days after the joint Israeli-US strikes on Iran began, which, according to the outlet, marked his first appearance there since June 26, 2025.
According to the report, several outlets, including the Associated Press, Reuters, and Getty Images, sent photographers to the briefing, but after publishing the photos, members of Hegseth’s staff told colleagues they did not like how he looked.
Additionally, photographers have been shut out of the subsequent briefings on the conflict with Iran, the American outlet noted.
In a statement cited by The Washington Post, the Pentagon press secretary, Kingsley Wilson, wrote, “In order to use space in the Pentagon Briefing Room effectively, we are allowing one representative per news outlet if uncredentialed, excluding pool.”
“Photographs from the briefings are immediately released online for the public and press to use. If that hurts the business model for certain news outlets, then they should consider applying for a Pentagon press credential, ” Wilson wrote.
Hegseth’s ongoing battle with the press
Since being confirmed at the start of Trump’s second term, Hegseth has repeatedly clashed with the press, with tensions reaching a peak in October as hundreds of credentialed Pentagon reporters turned in their credentials, refusing to sign a policy requiring journalists to obtain approval before reporting on information, including unclassified material.
Following the reporters' turning in their credentials, a new press corps took over, receiving a meet-and-greet with Hegseth in December. Until March 2, Hegseth had reportedly not appeared in an on-camera briefing.
The briefing was initially supposed to be limited to newly credentialed media, but journalists who had relinquished their badges negotiated an agreement to be allowed into the briefing room, The Washington Post reported, citing a lawyer for the Pentagon Press Association.
Following the publication of photographs taken by these journalists, only staff photographers from the Defense Department have been allowed to attend briefings, the paper reported.
It’s unclear whether Hegseth’s staff were upset with a particular photograph or with the pictures from the day as a whole, but the move has drawn backlash from the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA).
“Excluding photographers from Pentagon briefings because officials did not like how published images portrayed them shows an astonishingly poor sense of priorities in the midst of a war and is, for a public servant, not a good look,” NPPA President Alex Garcia said.
“A free press cannot function if government officials decide that only favorable images of public officials may be created or distributed.”