The Trump Pentagon, in a memo Friday evening, announced it is kicking out CNN and three other news outlets from their desks inside the building to make space for conservative ones.
CNN’s workspace — an office from which they do live broadcasts — will now go to Newsmax. In addition, the Washington Post, the Hill, and military news blog The War Zone will lose their desks or whatever kind of workspace they have in the building.
The changes are in addition to the ones made last week when the Pentagon announced they were kicking out the New York Times, NBC News, National Public Radio, and Politico from their workspaces to give them to the New York Post, One America News Network, Breitbart News Network, and the Huffington Post.
The Pentagon has for decades loaned workspaces to journalists who cover the building, and many of those outlets — particularly legacy media — have had the same desks for decades. But now, the Trump administration has shaken things up to give non-legacy outlets the same opportunities.
The memo, from Acting Press Secretary John Ullyot, said 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 first round of moves and requested to meet with Ullyot this week, arguing outlets were being unfairly singled out and would be at a disadvantage compared to others that kept their workspaces.
The additional outlets were also asked to vacate in response to that concern, according to Ullyot.
“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 issued a statement saying it 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, adding:
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,” it said.
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