By Simon Lewis
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department said on Thursday it has ordered a pause on all of its media subscriptions as part of government-wide efforts by the Trump administration to cut spending it deems as unnecessary.
President Donald Trump has put tech billionaire Elon Musk in charge of a government downsizing team, DOGE, that has swept through federal agencies searching for spending cuts as part of Trump’s overhaul and shrinking of the U.S. government.
“The Department has paused all non-mission critical contracts for media subscriptions that are not academic or professional journals,” a State Department spokesperson said in a statement emailed to Reuters.
“Bureaus and posts can request an exemption with justification as to why the access is mission critical, how it aligns with the Secretary’s priorities, and how it impacts the safety, security, and welfare of the workforce.” The State Department did not say how long the pause would last.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said all government spending must align with Trump’s America First priorities.
The Washington Post, which first reported the order on media subscriptions on Wednesday, also cited a State Department memo that directed staff to prioritize the termination of contracts with the Economist, the New York Times, Politico, Bloomberg News, the Associated Press and Reuters.
The State Department did not respond to a query about the memo, which Reuters was unable to independently confirm.
A Reuters spokesperson said: “As a matter of policy, Reuters does not comment on commercial agreements.”
New York Times spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander said: “Public officials, just like private sector Americans, need reliable information to do their jobs. The government is obviously free to cancel any subscriptions it likes. But the main result of blacklisting independent news is that these agencies and offices will know far less about what’s happening in the world. It’s hard to imagine how that will serve the people of the United States.”
A spokesperson for the Economist said on Thursday: “We know that diplomats around the world value our rigorous reporting, in-depth analysis and global perspective. At a time of rapid upheaval, we believe our fact-based journalism is more essential than ever.”
The other media companies mentioned in the memo reported by the Washington Post did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Reuters’ parent company Thomson Reuters separately said last week that Trump and Musk had “inaccurately represented” its business with the U.S. Department of Defense, after they publicly criticized a Pentagon contract with a division of the company to work on cyber threats.
Trump has long criticized media companies over their coverage of him and his policies.
The president said on Tuesday he will block the Associated Press from the Oval Office and Air Force One over its policy to continue referring to the Gulf of Mexico despite an executive order he signed in January directing his administration to change the name to the Gulf of America.
In response, the AP said it will refer to the Gulf by its original name to ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to readers around the world, while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen.
The White House in early February ordered the canceling of subscriptions to news outlet Politico after it became a target of criticism for receiving payments from the U.S. Agency for International Development for subscriptions to its premium news service POLITICO Pro.
(Reporting by Simon Lewis; Editing by Alistair Bell)
