The Trump administration notified four major news organizations late 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 spokesperson, 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.”
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 workspace 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.
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 workspaces in the building to allow new outlets to have their turn to become resident members of the Pentagon press corps,” 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.”
