WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s administration, in an unprecedented move, announced late on Friday it would remove four media organisations including the New York Times from their office spaces in the Pentagon, citing a desire to make room for others.
A memo said it would also remove National Public Radio, Comcast Corp-owned NBC News and Politico, which must vacate their spaces by Feb 14. In their place, it would give dedicated office space to the New York Post, One America News Network, Breitbart News Network and HuffPost News.
Each year going forward, one outlet from print, online, television and radio will rotate out of the Pentagon “to allow a new outlet from the same medium that has not had the unique opportunity to report as a resident member of the Pentagon Press Corps,” the memo said.
“Were disappointed by the decision to deny us access to a broadcasting booth at the Pentagon that we’ve used for many decades,” an NBC News spokesperson said.
“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.” NPR expressed concern about the decision and called for expanding office space available so that all media outlets covering the Pentagon receive equal access.
