Uncredentialed

Nyah nyah, you don’t get the nice corner office any more.

The Trump administration’s program to shake up media representation at official briefings and press calls in Washington is set to affect the Pentagon, with credentialed media being rotated out of assigned workspaces for media newcomers.

The conservative-leaning One America News Network is set to replace NBC News, Breitbart will be given space held by National Public Radio, the New York Post has been offered the New York Times’ workspace and HuffPost will replace Politico.

The changes are set to take place on 14 February in what the Pentagon calls a new “annual media rotation program”, according to an internal memo seen by CNN.

The moves are largely symbolic as outlets are not losing access to Pentagon briefings, but are in keeping with the Trump administration’s plans to mix the access of traditional news outlets with a cohort of non-traditional news outlets, including podcasters, bloggers and TikTokers.

Well you can call it “non-traditional” if you like but it’s a euphemism. What these outlets are is amateur. It’s not a crime to be an amateur, I’m an amateur, but I sure as hell don’t think I should be up front at Pentagon press briefings.

A spokesperson for the New York Times said the move to expel the paper and other independent news outlets from the Pentagon’s press spaces was “a concerning development”.

“The Department of Defense has the largest discretionary budget in the government, millions of Americans in uniform under its direction and control of a vast arsenal funded by taxpayers. The Times is committed to covering the Pentagon fully and fairly. Steps designed to impede access are clearly not in the public interest,” the paper added in an email statement.

Kevin Baron, a former vice-president of the Pentagon Press Association, called the changes “the erasure of journalism at the Pentagon” in a series of posts on X.

Baron said the existing outlets were being “replaced with fake news partisans like Breitbart, OANN, and NY Post. And HuffPo (they still exist?) for fake balance. Trump/MAGA’s fascist takeover of media coverage of the regime continues.”

And this is only week two. 206 left to go.

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