On February 3rd, The New York Post posted an article about changes being made in the Pentagon office space designated for news organizations.
The article reports:
The Trump administration has ordered four left-leaning news organizations including the New York Times and NBC News to vacate their dedicated office space at the Pentagon, making room for new media outlets such as The Post and the right-leaning Breitbart News and One America News.
The decision was announced late Friday in a Department of Defense memo issued by spokesman John Ullyot, who wrote that the Times, NBC News, NPR and Politico must relinquish their Pentagon office space by Feb. 14.
According to Ullyot, the move is part of a new annual media rotation program designed to allow access by “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.”
As part of this reshuffle, The Post will replace the Times as a print outlet, OAN will take NBC News’ spot as a cable network, Breitbart News will assume NPR’s role as a radio outlet and HuffPost, owned by BuzzFeed, will take Politico’s space.
The reaction is predictable:
She urged the Pentagon to expand media office space to ensure equal access for all news organizations.
Other affected outlets voiced similar concerns.
Politico’s senior managing editor Anita Kumar called the decision “troubling,” while an NBC News spokesman expressed disappointment over losing a broadcasting booth that had been in use for decades.
Where were the complaints when the organizations now given space didn’t have space?
The article concludes:
The reshuffling of Pentagon media access marks another chapter in the Trump administration’s strained relationship with the press.
With accusations of press favoritism and concerns over media transparency mounting, the decision is likely to fuel further debate over the role of independent journalism in government reporting.
If the reporting of the news organizations that lost their space had been accurate, they would still have their space.