Pentagon wages war on wokeness
The Pentagon is waging a war on wokeness that includes measures like ending identity months and punishing legacy media.
No more Pride Month
On Friday, the Department of Defense issued guidance from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth titled “Identity Months Dead at DoD.”
“Going forward, DoD Components and Military Departments will not use official resources, to include man-hours, to host celebrations or events related to cultural awareness months, including National African American/Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Pride Month, National Hispanic Heritage Month, National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and National American Indian Heritage Month. Service members and civilians remain permitted to attend these events in an unofficial capacity outside of duty hours,” the memo read.
Out with the old, in with the new
The same day, the Pentagon issued another memo announcing an Annual Media Rotation Program that will replace embedded mainstream media outlets with independent and mainly conservative-leaning ones in the Pentagon’s Correspondents’ Corridor. The corridor is a suite of offices within the Pentagon used by legacy news corporations like The New York Times and NBC News, giving them immediate and constant access to DoD activities.
The DoD has asked four media outlets—The New York Times, NBC News, NPR, and Politico—to vacate their offices in the Correspondents' Corridor by February 14th. They will be replaced by One America News Network, the New York Post, Breitbart, and HuffPost. It is unclear whether the outgoing news companies will be allowed to return next year.
“Each year, one outlet from each press medium — print, online, television and radio — that has enjoyed working from a physical office in the Pentagon will rotate out of the building 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 stated.
“To be clear, the outlets that vacate the spaces loaned to them by the Secretary will remain as full members of the Pentagon Press Corps,” the Pentagon clarified. “They will continue to enjoy the same media access to the Pentagon and will be able to attend and cover briefings and be considered for travel with civilian and military leaders in the Department as they have previously.”
Media corporations displeased
Despite their continued ability to access Penatagon sources, the ousted news outlets expressed their disappointment at being removed from their perch.
“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.”
"Steps designed to impede access are clearly not in the public interest," the New York Times said in a statement.
The National Press Club also expressed its displeasure.
“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. 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,” National Press Club President Mike Balsamo said.
