Yet again, the Trump administration has found a way to outrage the left. The same handful of establishment media outlets in the Pentagon press corps have enjoyed their own workspaces inside the building for decades, but a new memo from acting Pentagon Spokesman John Ullyot to the Pentagon Press Association warns the winds of change are blowing. A handful of these entrenched and entitled (not to mention progressively biased) outlets are being booted from the Correspondents’ Corridor to make room for some new (and, perhaps, more balanced) reporting. The audacity! If one were to listen close enough, one might almost hear the collective “Don’t they know who we are?”
Rotating the Pentagon Press
Ullyot announced the new “annual media rotation program” last week. Initially, four outlets were informed the workspace that had been loaned to them for so long would be offered to someone else, instead. NBC News will be replaced by One American News Network, Breitbart will take NPR’s facilities, The New York Times will make way for the New York Post, and HuffPost will replace Politico, effective February 14. What’s unclear is whether Valentine’s Day was chosen intentionally or if it’s merely a coincidence.
These outlets aren’t being kicked out of the press corps, nor will they be prevented from going with Pentagon personnel when they travel. What’s more, it’s an annual rotation. These legacy outlets aren’t necessarily losing their offices forever; they’re just being made to share. Oh the injustice of it all!
The Pentagon Press Association issued a statement protesting the move. In response, a new memo was released Friday, announcing that CNN, The Hill, The War Zone, and The Washington Post would join the initial four in making room for new outlets.
Hypocrisy of Entitled Elites
“We’re disappointed by the decision to deny us access to a broadcasting booth at the Pentagon that we’ve used for many decades,” NBC News said in a statement. “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 National Press Club is deeply concerned by the Defense Department’s decision to remove certain media organizations from their dedicated spaces in the Pentagon,” National Press Club President Mike Balsamo said in a statement of his own. “Any action that restricts the ability of journalists to report on the operations of the U.S. government should alarm all who value transparency and press freedom.”
Kevin Baron, a former vice president of the Pentagon Press Association, was less refined in his rant on X: “Holy s—t. The erasure of journalism at the Pentagon. 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.”
Oh the hypocrisy of entitled elites. NBC declares how helpful having a physical workspace at the Pentagon is, lamenting the loss of access. This is loaned space that news organizations don’t own and aren’t entitled to use. The network ignores the fact that in its stead, another news outlet will gain those very benefits, for a time – remember, this is a rotation, not a ban. But if they never do return, then what of it? The statement says it all: NBC was given exclusive access to physical space in a tax-funded building for many decades. In short, they had their turn.
The National Press Club makes the same mistake, whining and warning that this “restricts the ability of journalists to report on the operations of the U.S. government.” Two things, here. One, the First Amendment guarantees the government won’t take over or block the press – it does not require government buildings to include on-site press rooms, and it certainly doesn’t guarantee which media outlets are granted such special perks. They were given exclusive access, to which they are not, were not, and will never be entitled. They aren’t owed it. They were merely allowed to use it to make their jobs easier – which the government is not, never has been, and never will be constitutionally required to do. Two, it’s not as if the press as a whole is being cut off. These workspaces will still be filled with journalists, doing precisely what the old ones did, but for different outlets. It’s more democratic and open, not less.
Furthermore, these legacy media fixtures have often covered the government with an obvious leftist, statist bias. If only progressive news outlets are allowed in, that slant is the only reporting the public will ever see. Making room for some more conservative, libertarian, or even simply less biased outlets at least grants the American people a more balanced view.
The legacy media elite, who have been given these privileges, have grown entitled and started to see them as rights. Now that their time supping at the public trough is being interrupted, they’re outraged. How dare the government do this to us? Don’t they know who we are? It’s almost as if progressive media elites are only fans of sharing when they’re on the receiving end – that they only champion diversity, equity, and inclusion when they aren’t the ones having to sacrifice to make room for others.
Don’t we know who they are? Oh, yes. Both the government and the people know precisely who these media elites are. Now, it seems, they’ll have a chance to figure it out, too.
