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By Mandy Taheri
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The Pentagon announced on Friday night a new "media rotation" program and informed four traditional national media outlets that their seats will be reassigned to less traditional, smaller organizations, including Breitbart and One America News Network (OANN), which are notably more favorable to President Donald Trump.
Why It Matters
The White House has adopted a new media approach in the past two weeks since Trump, who has frequently used the phrase "fake news" to dismiss unfavorable coverage, took office.
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Earlier this week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced a "new media" pass to welcome bloggers, podcasters, social media influencers and others into the press room, in a move to diversify the press pool.
The media shake-up celebrated by Trump has raised concerns among some in the industry who fear that access to reporting the truth will become increasingly difficult as credentials are revoked and outlets too favorable of the president may not provide full coverage.
What to Know
Four major national outlets—NBC, The New York Times, Politico, and National Public Radio (NPR)—have been informed that they will be leaving their dedicated workspaces in the Pentagon on February 14, as part of the "new annual media rotation program."
NBC reported that the outlets were informed via a mass memo to the press corps on Friday night, and not individually notified.
In the memo to the Pentagon Press Association, Pentagon spokesperson John Ullyot said: "In order 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, beginning February 14, 2025," according to NBC.
The move comes less than two weeks after Trump assumed office and one week after Pete Hegseth was sworn in as secretary of defense. Hegseth was narrowly confirmed, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote.
He was widely considered the most controversial Cabinet nominee and faced allegations of sexual misconduct and alcohol abuse ahead of his confirmation vote, which was widely covered by national news outlets. Hegseth vigorously denied those allegations.
The new annual rotation program seeks 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," the memo said.
The outlets were identified by their medium: TV, print, radio, and online news. OANN, which is a pro-Trump outlet that former Florida GOP Representative Matt Gaetz hosts a show on, will be taking the place of NBC in the television category.
The New York Post is set to take over The New York Times' position for print media, the HuffPost, who does not have a specific Pentagon correspondent, to take over Politico's online news slot, and Breitbart News, to take over NPR's radio seat.
Newsweek has reached out to the press teams at Politico, Breitbart, New York Post, and One America News Network for comment via email.
The Pentagon said it had nothing to add in response to a Newsweek request for comment on Saturday.
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What People Are Saying
National Public Radio (NPR) told Newsweek in an email statement on Saturday: "More than 40 million Americans depend on NPR for daily news about their communities and the world. This 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."
It added: "NPR will continue to report with vigor and integrity on the transformation this Administration has promised to deliver. NPR urges the Pentagon to expand the offices available to press within the building so that all outlets covering the Pentagon receive equal access."
A spokesperson for The New York Times told Newsweek in a statement on Saturday: "This move to expel The Times and other independent, fact-based news outlets from the Pentagon's press spaces is a concerning development. The Department of Defense has the largest discretionary budget in the government, millions of Americans in uniform under its direction and control of a vast arsenal funded by taxpayers. The Times is committed to covering the Pentagon fully and fairly. Steps designed to impede access are clearly not in the public interest."
Lizzie Grams, a HuffPost spokesperson, told Newsweek on Saturday in an email statement: "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."
A NBC News spokesperson told Newsweek in a statement on Saturday: "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."
Charles Herring, president of One America News Network, wrote in an X post Friday night: "OAN looks forward to having office space at the Pentagon and will utilize full-time as soon as it's available. OAN has operated a DC News Bureau since 2013. OAN continues to seek similar access extended to other national television news outlets operating daily in Washington, DC."
Kevin Baron, former vice president of the Pentagon Press Association, wrote in an X, formerly Twitter, post on Friday night: "Holy sh*t. The erasure of journalism at the Pentagon. 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."
In follow up post, he added: "Kicking out reporters HURTS coverage...This is deliberate to punish the best news desks at the Pentagon and replace them propagandist pro-regime actors. Appalling and alarming for democracy."
Democratic strategist David Axelrod wrote in a X post Saturday morning: "Hegseth removes major news orgs from Pentagon workspaces--outlets that, at times, have done critical reporting on admins of BOTH parties-- in favor of right-wing outlets that will attaboy him & Trump. Keep a close eye on this. It's how autocracies roll."
Update 2/1/25, 1:34 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to include The New York Times' statement.
Update 2/1/25, 1:44 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to include a response from the Pentagon.
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