Blitz Bureau
WASHINGTON: The Department of Defencehas announced that it will institute a new ‘Annual Media Rotation Program’ for its in-house press corps, effectively removing several major news outlets, including NBC News, from their Pentagon office spaces in favour of other outlets.
In addition to NBC News, The New York Times, National Public Radio and Politico must vacate their dedicated workspaces.
The news organisations learned about the new directive in a memo sent to the press corps without being individually notified, and an accompanying email included a message that read, in part, “no additional information will be provided at this time,” said an NBC News report
“For over a half-century, the Pentagon Press Corps has benefited from working out of individual office spaces that provide coveted and open access to some of the Department’s top military and civilian leaders,” read the memo Pentagon spokesperson John Ullyot sent to the Pentagon Press Association. “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,” Ullyot wrote, there will be “a new Annual Media Rotation Program for those dedicated media spaces.”
In a statement, NBC News said, “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.”
The move by Pentagon officials comes seven days after the Senate confirmed Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth by the narrowest of margins. It followed weeks of coverage about his behaviour and treatment of women, including allegations that his alcohol consumption alarmed colleagues and his second wife feared for her safety around him. Hegseth has denied the allegations.
NBC News reported on some of the allegations against Hegseth.
