McChrystal Retirement Ceremony Closed to (Most) Press

As reported by Fox News, the Army is closing the McChrystal retirement ceremony to almost all media.

The Army is holding retirement ceremony full of military VIPs for Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the former top commander in Afghanistan who was fired last month for disparaging comments he and his aides made about the Obama administration -- but don’t expect much coverage in the media.

Fox News has learned that McChrystal and the Army closed his retirement ceremony to all but three reporters: Greg Jaffe from the Washington Post, Julian Barnes from the Wall Street Journal, and Gordon Lubold from Politico.

So far, the military has not provided any restrictions or reporting guidelines to the three journalists who were invited to cover the event.

It's no surprise that McChrystal would want to keep the media at arms length after a disastrous magazine profile cost him his leadership commanding role, but it's highly unusual for the military to make such a high-profile event exclusive to only hand-picked journalists.

Two military officials, who wished not to be named for this story, said the Army made its case to McChrystal that if one journalist is invited, the ceremony should be open to all press. These officials said McChrystal and his staff were unyielding in their stance and had no interest in opening the event to others.

By: Brant