Clint Brewer Discusses Ethical Standards Surrounding Atlantic Reporter’s Response to Being Included in Signal Group Chat

Clint Brewer, recovering journalist and Nashville-area public policy expert, said he believes the journalist who was mistakenly included in a group chat among top Trump administration officials could have handled the situation in a more ethical way.

On Monday, The Atlantic magazine Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg said he was invited to join the chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal and did so when it later convened about a conversation among officials about U.S. plans to launch airstrikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Noting how the news surrounding the incident has taken on the narrative of being a national security leak instead of the fact that the U.S. is bombing the Houthis, Brewer said as a journalist, he would have handled the situation differently than how Goldberg, who said he read “war plans.”

Brewer said that while he understands reporters’ “desire” to “get scoops,” he also said he believes that Goldberg should have acted more ethically by making his presence known and requesting to be removed from the chat.

“I understand the desire to get scoops. Obviously, Waltz’s office made a pretty big mistake…I gotta say, I think I would have said, ‘Hey fellas. You put me on this thing. I probably don’t need to be here, I want you to know I’m on here, but, remove me at any time. Maybe I shouldn’t be here.’ There’s an ethical question to this,” Brewer explained on Tuesday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.

Brewer explained it would have been appropriate for the reporter, given the circumstances, to have requested an exclusive story on the bombing of the Houthis instead of reporting that he had read “war plans” and possibly put American troops in harm’s way.

“I think I would trade up. I think that’s the best thing. We’ve seen this for years. They’re so determined to get a president that they’re playing small ball. I think what I would do is pick up the phone and go, ‘Hey fellas, look, you, you got me on this thing. I saw the thing about the raid. Obviously not going to report that. Don’t want to put American soldiers in harm’s way, but I would like an exclusive interview. You guys should take me off of this thing, but I would like for my good faith to be honored here and maybe you give me the story,” Brewer said.

“That’s the responsible way to do it,” Brewer added.

Brewer further pointed out that he believes the Atlantic story is an example of an outlet that touts itself as having “access to the insiders in D.C.” when it does not.

“There are reporters in D.C. at mainstream news organizations that do have access to the administration. I think that what is going on is that a lot of these publications that purport to be insider publications or high level publications like the Atlantic are selling to their readers that they have access to the insiders in D.C. when in fact they don’t,” Brewer said.

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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Jeffrey Goldberg” by Brookings Institution. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.