The Pentagon announced Thursday that it will change the independent military newspaper Stars and Stripes to focus on “our warfighters’ reporting” and no longer include “wake-up distractions.”
This letter, contained in a social media post from Defense Minister Pete Hegseth’s spokesman, is short on details and does not mention the media’s legacy of independence from government and military leadership. This comes a day after The Washington Post reported that job applicants at Stars and Stripes were asked what they would do to support President Donald Trump’s policies.
Stars and Stripes traces its lineage to the Civil War and has published news about the military either in its newspaper or online since World War II, largely to an audience of service members stationed overseas. Nearly half of its budget comes from the Pentagon and its employees are considered Department of Defense employees.
The media outlet’s mission statement asserts that it is “editorially independent from interference from outside its editorial chain of command” and that it is unique among news organizations associated with the Department of Defense in that it is “governed by First Amendment principles.”
Congress established this independence in the 1990s after instances of military leadership involvement in editorial decisions. During Trump’s first term in 2020, he served as Defense Secretary Mark Esper I tried to eliminate Government funding for Stars and Stripes — to effectively shut it down — before the president rescinds it.
Hegseth spokesman Sean Parnell said Thursday that the Pentagon is “returning Stars and Stripes to its original mission: reporting to our warfighters.” He said the administration would “refocus its content away from distractions.”
“The Stars and Stripes will be designed specifically for our fighters,” Parnell wrote. “It will focus on warfare, weapons systems, physical fitness, lethality, survivability, and all things military. No more gossip columns redirected to Washington, D.C.; no more AP reprints.”
He said the department is committed to ensuring the outlet’s legacy of reporting important news to service members.
Stars and Stripes publisher Max Lederer did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. But Jacqueline Smith, ombudsman at the outlet, described Parnell’s statement as a surprise. She said Stars and Stripes reports on matters important to service members and their families — not just weapons systems or war strategy — and she found nothing “woke” about its reporting.
“I think it is very important for Stars and Stripes to maintain its editorial independence, which is the foundation of its credibility,” Smith said. A longtime Connecticut newspaper editor, Smith is serving in the role created by Congress three decades ago to ensure independence, reporting to the House Armed Services Committee.
It is the latest move by the Trump administration to impose restrictions on journalists. Most reporters from legacy news agencies did He left the Pentagon Instead of agreeing to the new rules imposed by Hegseth which they feel will give him too much control over what they write and write. The New York Times has Lawsuit to cancel Regulations.
Trump also sought to shut down government-funded outlets e.g Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Which reports independent news about the world in overseas countries.
This week also the administration I raided the house A Washington Post journalist has been arrested as part of an investigation into a contractor accused of stealing government secrets, a move that many journalists interpreted as a form of intimidation.
Applicants for the Stars and Stripes job were asked how they would advance Trump’s executive orders and policy priorities in the role, The Post reported. They were asked to identify one or two orders or initiatives that were important to them. This has raised questions about whether it is appropriate for a journalist to be subjected to what is in effect a test of loyalty.
Smith said the government’s Office of Personnel Management – not the newspaper – is responsible for the question on job applications, and he said it is consistent with what is asked of applicants for other government jobs.
But she said this is not something that should be asked of journalists. She said: “Loyalty is to the truth, not to the administration.”
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David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him on http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.