Pete Hegseth makes huge move against legacy media one week into the job

Pete Hegseth has kicked out liberal legacy media outlets from the Pentagon press offices to make room for conservative organizations during his first week as defense secretary. 

The New York Times, NBC News, NPR and Politico have been giving their marching orders to evacuate their office spaces inside the Pentagon by Valentine's Day, a memo read. 

In their place, three conservative outlets - the New York Post, One America News Network (OAN) and Breitbart News Network - and one progressive outlet, HuffPost, will move in for one year. 

HuffPost, who does not have a Pentagon correspondent, did not ask for space inside the Pentagon, spokesperson Lizzie Gram told NBC News, but Gram remains enthusiastic. 

'If the Trump administration and Secretary Hegseth are interested in more hard-hitting coverage of their stewardship of the Defense Department from HuffPost, we are ready to deliver,' Grams said.  

New York Post will occupy The Times' space, while OAN will take NBC's office, Brietbart will occupy NPR's residence, and HuffPost will move into Politico's area. 

Hegseth's office implemented a rotating schedule for outlets to use the office space, which each rotation lasting one year. The unprecedent move was announced on Friday. 

Each yearly rotation will see one outlet from print, online, television and radio filtered out 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. 

More than two dozen news organizations operate out of the Pentagon, including Reuters, reporting on the daily activities of the US military. 

NPR told DailyMail.com it urges the Pentagon to 'expand the offices available to press within the building so that all outlets covering the Pentagon receive equal access.' 

'More than 40million Americans depend on NPR for daily news about their communities and the world,' it said. 

'This decision interferes with the ability of millions of Americans to directly hear from Pentagon leadership, and with NPR’s public interest mission to serve Americans who turn to our network of local public media stations in all 50 states.' 

NBC News also said it was 'disappointed by the decision to deny us access to a broadcasting booth at the Pentagon that we've used for 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,' it said in a statement. 

NBC's office contains equipment that was installed by the news organization, including phone lines and cameras. The outlet doesn't know if it will be able to broadcast from the Pentagon once it removes its equipment.  

The other outlets have not publicly commented on their removal.        

DailyMail.com has reached out to NBC, NYT, and Politico for comment. 

Pentagon Spokesman John Ullyot said the new order is 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.' 

'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,' the memo, sent to the Pentagon Press Association said. 

OAN told NBC News it 'looks forward to having access to physical office space at the Pentagon and will utilize the accommodations full-time as soon as it's possible'.

OAN has been operating a bureau in Washington since 2013. 

Despite OAN's excitement to finally gain access to office space, the Pentagon Press Association has issued a critique. 

'Our resident press corps has greatly expanded over the years and we have always welcomed new members and will continue to do so,' a statement read. 

'We are, however, 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.' 

This comes after new Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, 27, announced the White House will welcome independent journalists, podcasters and social media influencers into the press room. 

Leavitt also announced that the Trump 2.0 administration would restore the press passes of 440 whose passes were 'wrongly revoked' by the Biden administration.   

She also announced that two seats usually reserved for White House staff would become 'new media' seats - and those individuals would get to ask the first questions.

Traditionally the wire service, the Associated Press, gets the first question - while the White House Correspondents' Association dictates which outlets get which seats in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room.

'Starting today, this seat in the front of the room, which is usually occupied by the press secretary's staff, will be called the "new media" seat,' she said. 'My team will review the applications and give credentials to new media applicants who meet our criteria and pass United States Secret Service requirements to enter the White House complex.'

On Tuesday, Axios' Mike Allen got the first question followed by Matthew Boyle, the longtime political correspondent for Breitbart, the right-wing outlet that was previously led by Trump strategist Steve Bannon.

Donald Trump - who also attacked the media in his first term - will also continue to call out reporters he claims are 'wrong' in their reporting. 

'We know for a fact that there have been lies that have been pushed by many legacy media outlets in the country about this president, about his family and we will not accept that,' she stated. 

'We will call you out when we feel your reporting is wrong or there is misinformation about this White House.'