The Pentagon announced in a Friday memo that it is removing CNN and three other legacy news outlets from their desks to make room for conservative media.
CNN’s workspace—used for live broadcasts—will now be reassigned to Newsmax, while The Washington Post, The Hill, and the military news blog The War Zone will also lose their space in the building.
This move follows last week’s decision when the Pentagon removed The New York Times, NBC News, National Public Radio, and Politico from their workspaces, reallocating them to the New York Post, One America News Network, Breitbart News Network, and The Huffington Post.
For decades, the Pentagon has provided workspaces to journalists covering the building, with many outlets, particularly legacy media, holding the same desks for years. However, the Trump administration has now shaken things up, aiming to give non-legacy outlets equal access to these opportunities, Breitbart News reported.
In a memo from Acting Press Secretary John Ullyot, the goal “is to broaden access to the limited office spaces of the Correspondents’ Corridor to outlets that have not previously enjoyed the privilege of working from those spaces.”
The Pentagon Press Association issued a statement protesting the initial round of changes and requested a meeting with Ullyot this week, arguing that certain outlets were being unfairly targeted and would be at a disadvantage compared to those who retained their workspaces.
In response to these concerns, Ullyot confirmed that the additional outlets were also asked to vacate their spaces.
“To minimize any strategic disadvantage to impacted outlets relative to their competitors who retain office space in the building, the annual rotation of outlets will be doubled to eight comparable outlets in various mediums,” he wrote.
In response to additional changes, the Pentagon Press Association put out a statement complaining that the organization was “deeply shocked.”
“The Pentagon Press Association is shocked and deeply disappointed by the Defense Department’s decision to double the number of news organizations it is removing in two weeks from their dedicated workspaces in the Pentagon from four to eight,” the statement said.
It added:
Instead of reconsidering its approach after good faith outreach this week from more than 20 news organizations, the Defense Department appears to be doubling down on an unreasonable policy toward news outlets that have covered the U.S. military for decades.
The PPA has always welcomed and will always welcome new members to the Pentagon press corps. We do not believe there are space constraints at the Pentagon and flatly reject the Pentagon’s argument that established news outlets must leave to make room for others. The PPA offered to find spaces for everyone, as we’ve always done, but clearly that offer was discarded.
“We are studying this unfortunate decision and its implications for all of our members, since this is being presented as an annual occurrence. The Defense Department has assured that current PPA members will retain their credentials to access the Pentagon building,” the statement added.
Other big changes at the Defense Department under newly confirmed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth include ridding the entire military of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) programs and agencies, as well as taking new approaches to fixing long-standing problems and issues.
To that end, last week, when Hegseth provided a key update following the deadly air crash in Washington, DC, he discussed some of the changes being made and his expectations for the department under President Trump.
“So I don’t know exactly how the staffing occurred in that particular air traffic control tower. And it sounds like there was a shortage and the investigation will tell us more about that,” Hegseth told his former colleagues at Fox News.
“But the environment around which we choose, pilots or air traffic controllers, as the president pointed out correctly yesterday, better be the highest possible standard, the best of the best who are managing, you know, multiple flights. I mean, a flight a minute and managing radio traffic,” he added.
“I don’t care what background they come from, what their race is, what their gender is, if they’re rich or they’re poor, I just need them to be good at their job because I need my flight to land safely. The same thing applies to the Defense Department, to our military. I don’t care about your background, your gender or your skin color. I want the best,” Hegseth said.
