The Pentagon abruptly informed members of the press corps on Friday that it would be “rotating” legacy media outlets out of their office spaces inside the building.
A memo to the media signed by Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot said the move was coming as part of “a new Annual Media Rotation Program,” which would require media outlets to take turns sharing the offices inside the building. Ullyot said The New York Times, NBC News, National Public Radio, and Politico would be required to “begin their rotation by vacating their physical office space” effective Feb. 14.
Ullyot said organizations that would fill the newly vacant space included Breitbart, the New York Post, One America News Network, and the Huffington Post. The goal, he said, “to broaden access to the limited space of the Correspondents’ Corridor to outlets that have not previously enjoyed the privilege and journalistic value of working from physical office space in the Pentagon.”
A spokesman for NBC News objected to the decision in a statement, saying, “We’re disappointed by the decision to deny us access to a broadcasting booth at the Pentagon that we’ve used for many decades. 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.”
Kevin Baron, who previously served as vice president of the Pentagon Press Association, also lamented the Defense Department’s new landscape. Writing on X, he called it “the erasure of journalism at the Pentagon.” He added that legacy media was being “replaced with fake news partisans like Breitbart, OANN, and NY Post. And HuffPo (they still exist?) for fake balance. Trump/MAGA’s fascist takeover of media coverage of the regime continues.”
The development marked the tail end of a week in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth take numerous measures to stamp out his predecessors’ legacy. In a social-media post on Sunday, he shared a photo of a note written on official Department of Defense letterhead that said “DoD ≠ DEI*,” which promised to follow through on an order from the president to eliminate programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion in the Armed Services.
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On Wednesday, Hegseth revoked a security clearance and the security detail belonging to retired Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, who served in President Donald Trump’s first administration but later said he always held his boss in deep contempt.
And on Friday, prior to the announcement about office spaces, the Defense Department said “identity months” were “dead,” including Black History Month, observed annually in February under the Biden administration.
The President’s guidance (lawful orders) is clear: No more DEI at @DeptofDefense.
The Pentagon will comply, immediately.
No exceptions, name-changes, or delays. pic.twitter.com/KwRtxYRIbG
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) January 26, 2025
Pentagon reporters who will see their access reduced under the new policy include Politico’s Paul McLeary, The NY Times’ Helene Cooper and Eric Schmitt, NPR’s Tom Bowman, and NBC’s Courtney Kube. Those benefitting from the move include Breitbart’s Kristina Wong and the NY Post’s Caitlin Doornbos. It wasn’t immediately clear which reporters One America News and HuffPo would assign to occupy their new office spaces.
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Ullyot assured the outlets being evicted that the other types of access they enjoyed would not be affected.
“To be clear, the outlets that vacate the spaces loaned to them by the secretary will remain as full members of the Pentagon Press Corps,” he wrote. “They will continue to enjoy the same media access to the Pentagon and will be able to attend and cover briefings and be considered for travel with civilian and military leaders in the department as they have previously. The only change will be giving up their physical workspaces to allow new outlets to have their turn to become resident members of the Pentagon Press Corps.”