 | |
| Headquarters | Fort George G. Meade,Maryland |
|---|---|
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Defense Media Activity |
| History | |
| Launched | May 14, 2004; 21 years ago (2004-05-14) |
| Closed | April 17, 2015; 10 years ago (2015-04-17) |
| Former names | The Pentagon Channel (2004–14) |
DoD News Channel was a television channel broadcasting military news and information for the 2.6 million members of the U.S. Armed Forces. It was widely available in the United States as a standalone television channel, or as part of programming on localPEGcable television channels. It could be viewedFTA in most Central and Western European countries (fromEurobird 9A at 9.0° East), Africa, the Americas and most of Asia via satellite, and globally via the Internet.[1] DoD News Channel was free, in the public domain, and accessible 24/7 to all U.S. cable and satellite providers.
The channel was founded in 2004 asThe Pentagon Channel. On July 8, 2014, The Pentagon Channel was rebranded as theDoD News Channel. The channel ceased operations on April 17, 2015. However, content will still be produced for theAmerican Forces Network and the website Defense.gov.[2]
The network’s programming included Department of Defense news briefings, Military news, Interviews with top Defense officials, Short stories about the work of the United States military, and Military Lifestyle programming.
AsThe Pentagon Channel, the channel carried:
The Pentagon Channel also showed programming direct from the services such as,Freedom Journal Iraq,Freedom Watch Afghanistan,Army Newswatch,AFN Korea Nightly News,AFN Europe Report,Pacific Report,Eye on Nellis,The American Veteran,Air Force Space Today,In Step with Fort Riley andOn Track with Ft. Hood, as well as live Department of Defense briefings and roundtables.
With the change to DoD News Channel, most of the non-news programming was either dropped or de-emphasized.
In April 2006, the Pentagon Channel launched itspodcasting initiative, having offered up to 27 podcasts via theiTunes Store and its website.
TheAmerican Forces Press Service (AFPS) was the news service provided by theDefense Media Activity (formerly theAmerican Forces Information Service), part of theUnited States Department of Defense. It supplied news stories pertaining to the activities of theU.S. military around the world.[3]The New York Times has described it as the Pentagon's "media branch"[4] or "internal news service".[5]
AFPS was shuttered in a 2015 internal realignment of the Defense Media Activity and its reporting was merged with that of other DMA DOD-level production activities into a new organization named DOD News. DOD News was in turn shuttered during a 2018 internal realignment. DOD-level reporting of the type formerly done by AFPS and DOD News reporters is now credited to Defense.gov.
AFPS, DOD News and Defense.gov reporting uses a modified version ofAssociated Press style.[6]
