The hard yards of journalism - from the pentagon to Bondi

A lot has been said about the walk-out by members of the Pentagon press corps and their replacement with Trump-friendly media. A report in the SMH named news site RedState as one of the new members, with interest in the issue mainly stemming from their loudly declared partisan position – “unapologetic reporting and opinion by true conservatives for true conservatives” – but also from the changing of the guard: “the next generation is here”. 

But it’s another aspect that caught my interest and it seems to connect with developments here in Australia. The Herald also quoted podcaster and youtuber Tim Pool who said he would have a correspondent at the Pentagon on occasions but would not “maintain a significant presence”. Acknowledging the ethical challenge that resulted in mainstream media refusing to sign on to the restrictive new policies of the US administration, Pool said he would “prioritise the public’s right to know and transparency”. But he didn’t expect this to be much of a problem because “we are not investigative reporters, we do not anticipate frequently encountering such situations and respect those dedicated to uncovering information of vital public interest”.

Which is the bigger problem here: the ascendancy of partisan, government-friendly media, or the fact that new players don’t see it as their role to investigate, to break news, to offer something other than opinion? This is not to say that the offering of all newer participants is limited to commentary or to reproducing already established news. As our colleague, Chris Hall, is demonstrating in his PhD research, acts of journalism can be found in numerous locations across YouTube. (Even as I was writing this, Chris published his own video assessing platform journalists against public interest journalism benchmarks.)

But what of the sustained effort to follow developments in how governments, business and other institutions operate day-in day-out? This is where the Australian connection comes in.

Revelations about the outside work of Four Corners reporter Mahmood Fazal have captured the attention of local media – most notably, Media Watch. Fazal has done some interesting reporting but his pre-ABC life – including as part of the Mongols bikie gang – led him to a podcast partnership with Ryan Naumenko who describes himself as “once associating with the mafia, scammers, conmen and drug dealers”. Fazal and Naumenko recently fell out and the ABC is investigating Fazal’s involvement in the podcast. This follows questions last year over Fazal’s role in passing on threats made against youtuber, Friendlyjordies who posted a video about the Alameddine crime gang. This followed the 2022 firebombing of the Bondi house of Friendlyjordies’ Jordan Shanks by someone news.com.au described as “an alleged Alameddine foot soldier”.

The Friendlyjordies video that led to these events was itself an interesting exploration of a serious issue and the same can be said of some other work they’ve produced. But here’s the thing: the Friendlyjordies channel and the Naumenko podcast and others like them cannot cover the field of public interest reporting. They don’t have the resources or the contacts and a lot of them probably don't have the skills and experience or the necessary commitment to standards of practice. Instead, there in the background, are Kate McClymont and colleagues at the SMH – along with their colleagues at the ABC, The Australian, Guardian Australia and other "legacy" media – who doggedly pursue this and other stories in the public interest. This public interest involves the ordinary as well as the extraordinary. Of course, it’s selective, and so it’s great that we now have commentary and some journalism from podcasters, youtubers and others to fill in the gaps and draw attention to the blind spots of mainstream media. Maybe in time they’ll do more of the routine newsgathering on which we rely. And as for RedState and others like it? One thing we don’t need more of is commentary “from true conservatives for true conservatives” – or, dare I say, from true progressives for true progressives.

References

ABC news report about Pentagon press corp walk-out: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-16/pentagon-press-corps-leaves-in-protest-over-reporting-rules/105892258  

SMH report on the new members of the press corp: https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/new-pentagon-press-corps-unveiled-as-right-wing-podcasters-bloggers-20251023-p5n4mr.html  

News.com.au report on Fazal, Naumenko and Friendlyjordies: https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/media/friendlyjordies-on-hiatus-after-abc-journos-alleged-texts-leak/news-story/d8dcac41f39e2c28b28eaa01829eb6e4

SMH report by Kate McClymont and Calum Jaspan: https://www.smh.com.au/national/bikie-turned-four-corners-journalist-in-fabricated-message-feud-over-friendlyjordies-text-20251021-p5n495.html  

Media Watch episode on Fazal: https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/episodes/mahmood/105913508