The Defense Department announced that the agency will create a new “annual media rotation program” through which news outlets will cycle through office space at the Pentagon, meaning that several mainstream outlets will lose space in the building for the time being.
The New York Times, NPR, Politico, and NBC News were told to leave their assigned workspaces in a memo sent to the entire press corps on Friday night, per NBC News.
The memo came with a note saying that “no additional information will be provided at this time.”
NBC News will be replaced by One America News Network, while the other three outlets will be replaced by the New York Post, Breitbart News Network, and HuffPost.
The first three news outlets lean conservative, while the fourth is progressive.
“For over a half-century, the Pentagon Press Corps has benefited from working out of individual office spaces that provide coveted and open access to some of the Department’s top military and civilian leaders,” Pentagon spokesperson John Ullyot said in the memo.
Ullyot made clear that the new media rotation will start on Feb. 14.
The purpose of the program is to “broaden access to the limited space of the Correspondents’ Corridor to outlets that have not previously enjoyed the privilege and journalist value of working from physical office space in the Pentagon,” according to Ullyot.
NBC News expressed its disdain with the move in a statement.
Is this the right move by Trump?
“We’re disappointed by the decision to deny us access to a broadcasting booth at the Pentagon that we’ve used for many decades,” the outlet said.
“Despite the significant obstacles this presents to our ability to gather and report news in the national public interest, we will continue to report with the same integrity and rigor NBC News always has,” the statement added.
NPR said that the decision “interferes with the ability of millions of Americans to directly hear from Pentagon leadership, and with NPR’s public interest mission to serve Americans who turn to our network of local public media stations in all 50 states.”
NBC also reported that HuffPost does not currently have a dedicated correspondent for the Pentagon, while the outlet did not request a space at the headquarters.
Lizzie Grams, a spokesperson for HuffPost, nevertheless remarked that “if the Trump administration and Secretary Hegseth are interested in more hard-hitting coverage of their stewardship of the Defense Department from HuffPost, we are ready to deliver.”
One America News likewise said through a spokesperson that the outlet has maintained a news bureau in the nation’s capital since 2012 and “looks forward to having access to physical office space at the Pentagon and will utilize the accommodations full-time as soon as it’s available.”
The new program at the Pentagon appears to reflect a broader commitment within the Trump administration toward recognizing that many Americans are increasingly consuming the news through alternative outlets and platforms beyond the mainstream networks.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced during her first news conference on Wednesday that the White House would similarly create space for “new media voices who produce news-related content and whose outlet is not already represented” in the James Brady Briefing Room.
“We welcome independent journalists, podcasters, social media influencers, and content creators to apply for credentials to cover this White House,” she said.
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