The Pentagon has fired the editor-in-chief and one of the top reporters at Stars and Stripes, a prominent American military newspaper.
Editor-in-chief Eric Slavin told The Associated Press on Friday that he and the paper’s Middle East correspondent, Lara Corte, received the separation notice.
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A separate notice was also sent to the paper’s longtime publisher, Max Lederer, who previously announced he would retire at the end of September.
Slavin attributed the termination notice to the group’s decision to speak publicly about its efforts to protect Stars and Stripes’ editorial independence.
While the Pentagon provides funding to Stars and Stripes, the paper has strived to maintain its ability to report independently on military issues.
“I support the principle that The Star-Spangled Banner must maintain editorial independence in accordance with the law and the department’s own policies,” Slavin told the AP.
He believes he was fired because he “stated in an interview on CBS that the hypothetical news censorship of military personnel was a red line that should not be crossed.”
Stars and Stripes has a storied history of covering the U.S. military. Founded in the 19th century, the paper became famous as the official news outlet for soldiers sent overseas during World War II.
But Friday’s firings come as President Donald Trump’s administration introduces policies that civil rights advocates fear will restrict press freedom.
For example, under President Trump’s second term, the Pentagon has restricted journalists’ access to areas including the press room.
President Trump has also filed lawsuits against various media outlets, including the Associated Press, the Wall Street Journal, the BBC, and the New York Times, over discrepancies in their reporting.
Stars and Stripes has been in the headlines in recent weeks for its coverage of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been on a record-long deployment since November.
The paper cited cases in which sailors on ships had expressed suicidal thoughts or tried to jump from the ship. The Trump administration dismissed these reports as exaggerated and “disingenuous.”
But pressure on Stars and Stripes has increased in recent months.
For example, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced in a January statement that the department would return “Stars and Stripes to its original mission: reporting for the warfighter.”
He added that the Pentagon would step in to “focus content away from morale-sucking woke distractions.”
“Stars and Stripes will be customized to the warfighter. It will focus on combat, weapon systems, fitness, lethality, survivability, and overall military,” Parnell wrote. “No more reusing the D.C. gossip columns. No more reprinting the Associated Press.”
Since then, the publication has seen several changes that alarm press freedom groups.
In April, for example, the paper’s ombudsman, Jacqueline Smith, was fired. Her role was to defend the newspaper’s ethics and independence.
Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. William Urban was also reportedly appointed as deputy publisher of the magazine without Lederer’s prior knowledge.
In announcing his resignation, Lederer cited ongoing changes. He wrote in the memo that his “leadership philosophy” differs “in fundamental ways from the direction that Defense Department leadership has for the organization.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Urban posted a letter on the Stars and Stripes website on Friday, praising the newspaper’s efforts to bring “authoritative and editorially independent coverage” to American military personnel during World War II.
However, he criticized the current management team for being “slow in adopting digital storytelling” and promised “modernization.”
“My determination is to leave the Stripes a better organization than the one I joined two weeks ago,” Urban wrote.
But Friday’s staffing overhaul renewed concerns about the paper’s fate and its ability to report independently.
“The Stars and Stripes’ mission cannot be fulfilled unless journalists and newsroom leaders worry that independent reporting could invite retaliation from the officials they cover,” Chris Vaccaro, president of the Society of Professional Journalists, said in a statement Thursday.
“Service members and their families deserve journalism that is produced for their benefit, not journalism produced for the benefit of the Department of Defense,” he added.
The same day, three Democratic senators, Richard Blumenthal, Elizabeth Warren, and Jeanne Shaheen, jointly sent a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth demanding answers about the paper’s “diminishing” independence.
“For generations, American military personnel, especially those stationed overseas and in combat zones, have relied on Stars and Stripes for trusted, independent news,” they wrote.
“That trust depends on maintaining a clear separation between independent journalism and the department’s public affairs apparatus. At this critical moment of leadership change, that independence must not be compromised.”
