Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth laid into legacy media outlets after data compiled by The Media Research Center (MRC) revealed that he had received 100% negative coverage from the three major networks: ABC News, CBS News, and NBC News.
Hegseth responded to the report with a post on X showing the tone of his coverage compared to that of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) adviser Elon Musk — who received 89% negative coverage and 96% negative coverage, respectively.
“In case you wonder what we — and President Trump — are up against. 100% NEGATIVE coverage from so-call[ed] ‘mainstream’ press in the first 100 days. PERFECT SCORE,” Hegseth quipped. “(Come on @RobertKennedyJr & @elonmusk, you guys can do better!)”
In case you wonder what we — and President Trump — are up against.
100% NEGATIVE coverage from so-call “mainstream” press in the first 100 days. PERFECT SCORE.
(Come on @RobertKennedyJr & @elonmusk , you guys can do better!) pic.twitter.com/uYi2ebI0RG
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) April 30, 2025
Hegseth offered a guess as to why the coverage was so overwhelmingly negative when he spoke at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, where he told the president and other members of the administration, “We’re controversial because we’re OVER the target!”
WATCH:
. @SecDef presented @POTUS with all the accomplishments that the DOD have achieved in the last 100 days:
“I think we’re controversial because we’re OVER the target!” pic.twitter.com/GnznUoK1UE
— DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) April 30, 2025
Hegseth laid out a number of things that the military had already improved since the Trump administration began — and noted that recruitment numbers were setting records — suggesting that the military’s response to Hegseth was far more positive than the media’s.
The data compiled by MRC covered the time frame from January 20 to April 9 and excluded comments made by expressly partisan guests, only including evaluative statements made by people who were expected to be nonpartisan: anchors, reporters, and experts. In addition to finding that Hegseth’s coverage — beginning even before he was confirmed as Defense Secretary — was 100% negative, the same data revealed that coverage of President Donald Trump was 92% negative. Based on the same criteria, coverage of former President Joe Biden — during the first several months of his presidency in 2021 — was 59% positive.
