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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Hegseth brings warfighter mentality to media relations
The Defense Department's relationship with reporters has gone from bad to worse following a string of missives from Secretary Pete Hegseth and his office aimed at controlling the Pentagon press corps. Hegseth's war on the media includes taking desks away from legacy outlets, locking the doors to one of the few places reporters have access to the internet in the Pentagon, and restricting their movement within the building. Compounding the breakdown in media relations is a staffing shortage in the Pentagon's public affairs shop, with at least 12 officials in the office reportedly leaving in recent weeks. The office officially held 32 people at the start of the year. That has left one of the government's largest agencies often unresponsive amid a steady stream of scandals and public relations snafus, though it maintains an active 'DOD Rapid Response' account on the social platform X, which posted on Saturday, 'we will always deliver on our promise of transparency.' The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment on this article. Hegseth often talks about bringing a warfighting mentality to the Pentagon. His hostile approach to the media comes at the detriment of the American public, said Jonathan Katz, senior director for the Anti-Corruption, Democracy and Security Project at the Brookings Institution. 'Americans need to understand what's happening in the Department of Defense because it's critical to U.S. national security and to their everyday lives,' Katz told The Hill. 'Right now it looks like the Pentagon, led by Mr. Hegseth, is doing everything it can do to not share critical information with the public. That is problematic.' Since the start of President Trump's second term, the Defense Department has transformed how it typically engages with the press, largely shunning traditional media. Chief Pentagon spokesperson and senior adviser Sean Parnell has briefed the press on camera once since taking on the role in February, and Hegseth has yet to address reporters in the department's briefing room. When Hegseth does address the media, it's mostly from the White House alongside President Trump or while he is traveling. But he has shaped how he is covered on those trips by limiting the number of reporters that come with him — on some trips handpicking those from more right-leaning outlets that skew toward favorable coverage of the department. When Hegseth traveled to Guantánamo Bay in late February, he took just one reporter, his former colleague, Fox News host Laura Ingraham. Hegseth and Parnell have instead put out near-weekly 'situation reports,' video updates from the Pentagon that espouse positive headlines and commitments to 'transparency.' The DOD Rapid Response X account both plays up positive news about Hegseth and denigrates news stories and reporters that show him in a negative light. Alex Wagner, a former Pentagon official-turned-public affairs professor at Syracuse University, said the channeling of all communication into 'easily retweeted videos that are highly scripted without any chance for questions' undermines service members and confidence that defense leaders have their best interests at heart. 'It's absolutely critical that the people who are serving and sacrificing and their families understand not only what is happening to service members and their dependents, but also why it's happening,' Wagner told The Hill. 'I'm just surprised President Trump and his team are allowing it, given their repeated affirmations that they are running the most transparent administration in history,' he added, pointing to the contrast with the White House and State Department, where officials regularly brief the media. Things are only getting worse for the Pentagon press corps. Just working in the building has become arduous for many outlets after Hegseth's office in early February took away the desks of eight legacy media outlets: NBC News, The New York Times, NPR, Politico, CNN, The Washington Post, The Hill and The War Zone. The reporters had to vacate their spaces for outlets more sympathetic to the Trump administration, including One America News Network, the New York Post, Breitbart News, Newsmax, the Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller and The Free Press. The department called the shifts a 'media rotation program,' but the move was bashed by the Pentagon Press Association, which called it 'unreasonable.' Later that same month, the Pentagon banned reporters from the press briefing room unless officials were holding a briefing — which has only happened once in more than five months. This barred media from one of the few places in the building that had access to Wi-Fi to file stories. And last month, after a string of embarrassing headlines for Hegseth, including that he mishandled sensitive information in March when he relayed over Signal detailed plans to strike Houthi militants in Yemen — to a group chat that included a journalist — the Pentagon barred reporters from freely walking in certain areas of the building. Areas that are off limits now include Hegseth's office spaces and the Joint Chiefs of Staff office spaces 'without an official approval and escort from the Office of the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs,' according to a May 23 memo signed by the Pentagon chief. The decision limits press access to hallways reporters have historically had access to under past Republican and Democratic presidential administrations, with Parnell on X calling the restrictions 'pragmatic changes to protect operational security.' It also eliminates 'the media's freedom to freely access press officers for the military services who are specifically hired to respond to press queries,' the Pentagon Press Association said in a statement. The group further called the restrictions 'a direct attack on the freedom of the press and America's right to know what its military is doing.' The National Press Club urged the department to reverse course, as 'restricting access doesn't protect national security. It undermines public trust,' the organization's President Mike Balsamo said in a statement. And a third press group, Military Reporters & Editors, said it was 'deeply troubled' by the restrictions, the likes of which hadn't been seen before at the Pentagon. 'This isn't meant to protect the republic, it is designed to impose a chill,' the organization said in a statement. 'It is a disservice to the American public, troops, veterans and families who rely on a dedicated free press to shine the light on matters of vital interest.' Further limitations are likely coming, with Hegseth's memo alluding to reporters having to soon sign a pledge to protect sensitive military information or risk losing their press badge. 'It's as if there's a separate standard for transparency and accountability that the Pentagon is not upholding under Secretary Hegseth that they're asking others to uphold,' said Katz. 'This is disconcerting for the American public that relies on the media to understand in a transparent, accountable way what the Pentagon is doing. And right now, Americans are losing faith that one of the most important national security institutions is not being truthful,' he added. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Telegraph
10-05-2025
- General
- Telegraph
Oxford backtracks on non-binary graduation ceremony terms
Oxford University has backtracked on making its 800-year-old Latin graduation ceremonies fully gender-neutral. In March, the university voted to remove grammatically masculine or feminine Latin words from some ceremonies, to appease non-binary students. In an amendment to those changes, the university has said some gendered words will be retained. It argued that, even though they were masculine, they were 'statuses' and could be treated as being without gender. The original proposals involved dropping masculine words including 'magistri' (masters) and 'doctores' (doctors) and replacing them with 'vos', which is a neutral pronoun meaning 'you'. But Dr Jonathan Katz, the university's public orator, and Dr Tristan Franklinos, a classicist, said that the words 'magistri' and 'doctores' would still be included in the ceremony as salutations. The university said the decision to maintain the gendered words came because 'they form part of the tradition handed down to us and they connote the respect shown by University Officers to graduands in the ceremony'. 'Warmth and humanity' The university added that the changes had been made to restore warmth and humanity to a traditional proposal that was felt to lack feeling. It argued that the original intention was to create a single Latin text for the ceremonies, which has been done. The partial U-turn followed criticism from academics that tradition was being lost in removing the words from the Latin address. David Butterfield, a professor of Latin at Ralston College in Georgia, previously told The Telegraph: 'I regret that striking and beautiful phrases, such as 'domini doctores' are being replaced with the empty, and rather abrupt, ' vos'.' He said: 'It is heartening to see 'doctor' and 'magister' restored to the Latin ... on the grounds that we don't speak of a woman as a 'doctrix', or having a 'Mistress of Arts' degree.' But Prof Butterfield said he saw it only as a partial victory, because some gendered words have been removed. The historic 'dominus' or 'domina', meaning sir or madam, has been replaced with the word 'sodalis', meaning comrade or fellow. 'It remains a fudge that sodalis, the form of both the masculine and the feminine, can allegedly be interpreted by the non-binary listener as neither in one gender or the other,' he said. 'While deliberately ambiguous Latin can be deployed, it is literally impossible for Latin to be used without any gender at all. Ceremonial Latin, centuries old, should not be make-believe.' The amendment was added following a vote attended by 28 academics, who agreed to introduce the new Latin into graduation ceremonies from October to cater to those 'who identify as non-binary'. Two votes took place – one for the gender-neutral Latin changes, and one for their amendment. Twenty-four academics voted for the changes to be made, and 22 for the amendment to be introduced. An Oxford University spokesman said: 'Congregation has voted to accept the proposed changes to the text for graduation ceremonies with an amendment that restores salutations to the start of some of the phrases used. 'The changes will come into effect from October, and will create a single simplified text for each ceremony as intended in the original proposal.'
Telegraph
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Oxford set to make 800-year-old Latin ceremony non-binary
Oxford is set to make an 800-year-old Latin ceremony gender-neutral for the benefit of non-binary students. The university has conferred its degrees in Latin since the 12th century, but the wording used could be changed to make it more inclusive. Dons will vote on a proposal to change the Latin ceremonial text to cater to those 'who identify as non-binary'. In a gazette issued to alert faculties to the planned changes, the introduction of the first gender-neutral degree ceremony in Oxford's almost 1,000-year history is deemed 'necessary'. The changes involve stripping a Latin message of congratulations of words that are grammatically gendered masculine or feminine. Instead of referring to masters students as 'magistri' (masters) – a masculine word – the proposed text uses the term 'vos', which is neutral terms for 'you'. The word 'doctores' (doctors), which is also masculine, could be changed. For undergraduates, the word for 'who', which has a masculine and feminine form, will be replaced with a neutral word. Similar changes have been proposed for the specific wording used in degree ceremonies for awards in arts, music, medicine, law, philosophy and other specialisms. The push for gender-neutral language will not only apply in degree ceremonies, but other formal occasions at Oxford. In a ceremony for the admission of a new Vice-Chancellor, the retiring Vice-Chancellor will say a few words in English not about 'his/her' tenure, but about 'their' time at the helm. Gender pronouns will also be stripped for other formal occasions including for the admissions of staff, if plans are voted through by Oxford's Congregation, which acts like a parliament for the university. A vote will be held on April 29 and will affect all ceremonies from October this year. The linguistic changes have been approved by Dr Jonathan Katz, a Latin expert who serves as the university's Public Orator. The proposals come amid a general push by public bodies to become more inclusive of varying gender identities, which has seen universities introduce gender-neutral toilets and inclusive language guides. Oxford's own Equality and Diversity Unit has urged staff and students to be mindful about discussing certain issues, stating 'all members of the University should be sensitive when discussing transgender topics'. The proposals also come after a modern reckoning with Latin. The Labour government cut the £4 million Latin Excellence Programme which supported the teaching of language in state schools, raising concerns about an attack on subjects often deemed 'elitist'. This led to accusations that Sir Keir Starmer was 'pulling up the drawbridge behind him' by axing Latin, despite himself studying the subject. In 2022, the textbooks of the Cambridge Latin Course books, which had been used in classrooms for five decades, were earmarked for revision because of their depictions of slaves. In the wake of Black Lives Matter protests, the didactic character of Caecilius used in the course was flagged, as he was shown to own several slaves. In one educational vignette, he was shown buying a young girl. Some scholars have raised concerns in the past that these domestic slaves were shown living 'happy' and carefree lives. One 2019 academic article in the US argued this was a 'sanitation and normalisation of slavery'.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Oxford set to make 800-year-old Latin ceremony non-binary
Oxford is set to make an 800-year-old Latin ceremony gender-neutral for the benefit of non-binary students. The university has conferred its degrees in Latin since the 12th century, but the wording used could be changed to make it more inclusive. Dons will vote on a proposal to change the Latin ceremonial text to cater to those 'who identify as non-binary'. In a gazette issued to alert faculties to the planned changes, the introduction of the first gender-neutral degree ceremony in Oxford's almost 1,000-year history is deemed 'necessary'. The changes involve stripping a Latin message of congratulations of words that are grammatically gendered masculine or feminine. Instead of referring to masters students as 'magistri' (masters) – a masculine word – the proposed text uses the term 'vos', which is neutral terms for 'you'. The word 'doctores' (doctors), which is also masculine, could be changed. For undergraduates, the word for 'who', which has a masculine and feminine form, will be replaced with a neutral word. Similar changes have been proposed for the specific wording used in degree ceremonies for awards in arts, music, medicine, law, philosophy and other specialisms. The push for gender-neutral language will not only apply in degree ceremonies, but other formal occasions at Oxford. In a ceremony for the admission of a new Vice-Chancellor, the retiring Vice-Chancellor will say a few words in English not about 'his/her' tenure, but about 'their' time at the helm. Gender pronouns will also be stripped for other formal occasions including for the admissions of staff, if plans are voted through by Oxford's Congregation, which acts like a parliament for the university. A vote will be held on April 29 and will affect all ceremonies from October this year. The linguistic changes have been approved by Dr Jonathan Katz, a Latin expert who serves as the university's Public Orator. The proposals come amid a general push by public bodies to become more inclusive of varying gender identities, which has seen universities introduce gender-neutral toilets and inclusive language guides. Oxford's own Equality and Diversity Unit has urged staff and students to be mindful about discussing certain issues, stating 'all members of the University should be sensitive when discussing transgender topics'. The proposals also come after a modern reckoning with Latin. The Labour government cut the £4 million Latin Excellence Programme which supported the teaching of language in state schools, raising concerns about an attack on subjects often deemed 'elitist'. This led to accusations that Sir Keir Starmer was 'pulling up the drawbridge behind him' by axing Latin, despite himself studying the subject. In 2022, the textbooks of the Cambridge Latin Course books, which had been used in classrooms for five decades, were earmarked for revision because of their depictions of slaves. In the wake of Black Lives Matter protests, the didactic character of Caecilius used in the course was flagged, as he was shown to own several slaves. In one educational vignette, he was shown buying a young girl. Some scholars have raised concerns in the past that these domestic slaves were shown living 'happy' and carefree lives. One 2019 academic article in the US argued this was a 'sanitation and normalisation of slavery'. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
