The Trump administration notified four major news organizations late on Friday that they would have to give up their dedicated office space at the Pentagon to make way for other outlets, including the right-wing sites Breitbart News and One America News.
In a memo, a Department of Defense spokesman, John Ullyot, said that The New York Times, NBC News, NPR and Politico had to vacate their office space by Feb. 14 to allow for “a new outlet from the same medium that has not had the unique opportunity to report as a resident member of the Pentagon press corps” for a year as part of a “new annual media rotation program.”
Mr. Ullyot said The New York Post would replace The Times as a print outlet; the conservative cable channel One America News would be swapped in for NBC News; Breitbart News would be a radio outlet instead of NPR; and the news outlet HuffPost, owned by BuzzFeed, would switch with Politico.
It is common for reporters from major news organizations to have access to desks or work space at government buildings, such as the White House and the U.S. Capitol. The Trump administration has been vocal about wanting to give more access to nontraditional news organizations, including many that have reported favorably on the president.
“Known as the Correspondents’ Corridor, this office space loaned to media outlets by the secretary of defense stands as a tribute to the importance the department has long placed on informing the public about the U.S. military,” the memo said.
The memo said the news outlets that were being removed would remain members of the Pentagon press corps and would still be able to attend briefings.
“The only change will be giving up their physical work spaces in the building to allow new outlets to have their turn to become resident members of the Pentagon press corps,” Mr. Ullyot wrote.
The board of the Pentagon Press Association said in a statement that it had “always welcomed new members and will continue to do so.”
“We are, however, greatly troubled by this unprecedented move by D.O.D. to single out highly professional media who have covered the Pentagon for decades, under both Republican and Democratic administrations,” the board said. “We have asked for a meeting and we will keep everyone informed.”
The announcement came a week after President Trump’s pick for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, was narrowly confirmed.
“This move to expel The Times and other independent, fact-based news outlets from the Pentagon’s press spaces is a concerning development,” said Charlie Stadtlander, a New York Times spokesman. “The Times is committed to covering the Pentagon fully and fairly. Steps designed to impede access are clearly not in the public interest.”
Isabel Lara, an NPR spokeswoman, said 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.”
“NPR urges the Pentagon to expand the offices available to press within the building so that all outlets covering the Pentagon receive equal access,” she said.
Politico’s senior managing editor, Anita Kumar, said in an email to the outlet’s newsroom on Saturday, which was viewed by The Times, that Politico was “troubled by this decision.”
A spokesman for NBC News said, “We’re disappointed by the decision to deny us access to a broadcasting booth at the Pentagon that we’ve used for many decades.”
A New York Post spokeswoman said, “As one of most engaged, impactful and far-reaching media brands in the country, it only makes sense for us to have a reporter at the Pentagon.”
A spokesman for OAN, Charles Herring, said, “OAN continues to seek similar access extended to other national television news outlets operating daily in Washington, D.C.”
