Exclusive: Legacy Media Outlets Silent During Biden Press Crackdown Now Decry Losing Pentagon Workspaces, Sent Top Executives to Protest

The Trump Pentagon’s decision to remove legacy media outlets from their long-held workspaces and replace them with other news outlets has generated outrage that was notably missing when the Biden White House canceled press passes for more than 400 journalists.

In fact, legacy media outlets were so concerned about losing their Pentagon workspaces that they sent top company executives and editors to a private meeting with a senior Trump Pentagon press official earlier this week, according to a source at the meeting.

One outlet’s president even flew down from New York to attend the meeting, which was requested by the Pentagon Press Association to push back against the Pentagon’s order, according to the source, and was attended by about five dozen members of the press.

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The workspaces are not owned by media outlets, they are loaned to them by the Pentagon, and not all media outlets have workspaces there.

On January 31, the Trump Pentagon ordered four establishment media outlets — the New York Times, NBC News, National Public Radio, and Politico — to leave their workspaces inside the Pentagon. Some of those outlets, such as NBC News, have had their same workspaces for decades.

The Pentagon ordered them to give their workspaces to the New York Post, One America News Network, Breitbart News Network, and the Huffington Post.

In a January 31 memo, acting Pentagon Press Secretary John Ullyot wrote:

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. … . 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.

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The Pentagon Press Corps immediately issued a statement protesting the move and requesting the meeting with Ullyot, saying they were “greatly troubled by this unprecedented move by DOD to single out highly professional media who have covered the Pentagon for decades, under both Republican and Democratic administrations.”

“We have asked for a meeting and we will keep everyone informed,” they added. Breitbart News was not invited to the meeting.

After the meeting, Ullyot announced in a follow-up memo on Friday that, to address their concerns, the competitors of the four initially named outlets would also lose their workspaces so that they would not have an advantage, as argued at the meeting.

Ullyot said, “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.”

The additional outlets included the Washington Post, CNN, The Hill, and The War Zone, who must give their spaces to the Washington Examiner, Newsmax, the Free Press, and the Daily Caller.

The Pentagon Press Association responded in a memo that they were “shocked and deeply disappointed.”

“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 orders do not prevent any outlets from continuing to access or cover the building, but rather, just gives their coveted workspaces inside the building to other outlets that also cover the building.

The uproar from the legacy press contrasts with the muted response after the Biden White House canceled year-long press passes to the building for over 400 journalists and restricted press from certain events featuring the president.

In 2023, the Biden White House tightened eligibility for a White House press pass, which led to the loss of at least 442 journalist’s so-called “hard passes,” which allowed them daily access to the White House press briefing room and certain areas on the White House grounds for one year.

While they could still apply for one-day passes, it entailed an onerous request and screening process.

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That move was taken to deny access to African journalist Simon Ateba, who would frequently spar with then-White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre over never being called on for a question.

Ateba tweeted at the time:

BREAKING: The @WhiteHouse is changing the rules for press hard passes to target me. But I qualify for all those things as we just filed our taxes, are registered with the District of Columbia and have our address in DC. I studied journalism in college, received two degrees, have only worked as a journalist and trained countless people. I also attend briefings religiously and do not have a second job.

He added, “It’s crazy what’s going on. How can a guy come from Africa and you have to change the rules because of him?”

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