Cnn
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A America News Network would soon replace NBC News and Breitbart would exchange by national public radio in the coveted workspace of the Pentagon Press Corps as part of a plan shared with journalists on Friday evening.
In what the Pentagon calls a new “annual media rotation program”, the New York Post will also be invited to move into the New York Times workspace. And a fourth point of sale affected by the rotation program, Politico, would be replaced by HuffPost.
Three of the modifications, which should take effect on February 14, raise relatively small and ardently pro-Trump media while putting me apart from the more popular and more traditional press organizations.
The fourth is the exception: HuffPost, which has a progressive mark, openly criticizes President Donald Trump. Curiously, however, the site does not currently have a Pentagon correspondent.
“If the Trump administration and Secretary Hegseth are interested in a more impactful coverage of their Defense Ministry stewardship from HuffPost, we are ready to deliver,” a spokesman for Huffpost said on Friday evening.
NBC News said in a statement: “We are disappointed by the decision to refuse us access to a Pentagon broadcasting stand that we have used for many decades. Despite the important obstacles that this presents to our ability to bring together and report news in the national public interest, we will continue to report with the same integrity and the same rigor NBC News has always. »»
CNN contacted representatives of the New York Times, NPR and Politico to comment.
The Friday evening announcement is required to provoke challenges from the members of the Pentagon Press Corps. But it conforms to the declared objectives of the Trump administration to question long -standing standards and create space for new media in opinion.
Pentagon spokesperson Jonathan Ullyot said in the internal note of the Pentagon Press Association that the modifications apply to individual office spaces in the “correspondent corridor” to the Department of Defense – both a decision Practical and symbolic.
The rotation program from year to year “will expand access to the limited space of the corridor of correspondents at points of sale which have not previously known the privilege and the journalistic value of the work from the office space Physics in the Pentagon, ”wrote Ulyot.
Managers have apparently chosen a “press medium” point of sale – Print, online, radio and television – to allow their existing space for a year.
The media that is replaced have actually received two weeks notice.
Members of the Pentagon Press Corps wondered why Times, NBC, NPR and Politico were invited to leave the office space and if the decisions were linked to their rigorous coverage of the new defense secretary Pete Hegseth, the former Fox News host who took charge of the Pentagon earlier this week.
“To be clear, the outlets that leave the spaces ready for them” by the defense secretary “will remain as full members of the Pentagon Press Corps,” wrote Ulyot. “They will continue to benefit from the same media access to the Pentagon and will be able to assist and cover briefs and be considered for travel with civil and military leaders in the department as they have done before. The only change will be to give up their physical work spaces in the building to allow new points of sale to have their turn to become resident members of the Pentagon Press Corps. »»
Ulyot’s memo presented the rotation system as a fair way to accommodate more media in the American military seat, but the announcement was immediately examined.
Breitbart, for example, was selected as a radio point of sale, replacing NPR this year. But Breitbart – A well -known website for coverage and pro -Trump comments – barely has a radio operation. The word “radio” does not appear at all on its home page. The media has a distribution agreement with Siriusxm and a large podcast, Breitbart News Daily. Its pale imprint compared to NPR, which provides media coverage for local stations across the country.
One America News was selected as TV Outlet, replacing NBC this year. While NBC produces some of the most watched information programs in the country, such as “NBC Nightly News” and “Today”, an America is so small that it avoided the Nielsen Ratings Measure Service. The far -right canal, whose siege is in San Diego, has faced multiple prosecution from the elections of 2020.
Kevin Baron, former vice-president of the Pentagon Press Association, described the development of “the erasure of journalism at the Pentagon”.
“Journalists launch boosts injure the cover. If you cannot put your stories from the interior of the building, you are disadvantaged. If you have no workspace, you are disadvantaged, “said Baron in a series of messages on X.
The National Press Club, a defender of Press Freedom, said in a statement that he was disturbed by the announcement of the Pentagon and had called for the Ministry of Defense to give greater clarity on the decision.
“The National Press Club is deeply concerned about the decision of the Ministry of Defense to withdraw certain media organizations from their dedicated spaces in the Pentagon,” said National Press Club, Mike Balsamo, in a statement. “Any action that restricts the ability of journalists to report on US government’s operations should alarm all those who appreciate transparency and press freedom.”
This story has been updated with additional details.
