The Defense Department on Friday fired the publisher and the editor in chief of Stars and Stripes, a government-funded news outlet that reports on the U.S. military, according to a senior Pentagon official and the dismissed journalists.
The firings raised questions about the Pentagon’s willingness to ensure the editorial integrity of the publication that has reported extensively on difficulties faced by military communities as the war in Iran has dragged on. The terminations came about 10 days after Stars and Stripes journalists reported on hardships that Navy sailors were facing on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, the aircraft carrier whose deployment was extended to nine months amid the war.
On Friday, the Pentagon sent termination notices to Erik Slavin, the editor in chief, and Max Lederer, the publisher, who had announced his retirement earlier this week, citing conflict with the Pentagon leadership on the paper’s direction. Lara Korte, a Middle East correspondent at the news outlet, was also fired on Friday, according to the official and a post she made on social media.
The Defense Department declined to comment. Capt. William Urban, the military deputy to the publisher who was brought to the role earlier this month, said in a letter published on Friday that his priority was to ensure “the highest quality of editorially independent reporting” at Stars and Stripes. Captain Urban had previously served as a senior spokesman for the Defense Department in various roles.
Mr. Slavin said his termination notice cited insubordination and an unauthorized media appearance as the reason for his dismissal. In July, CBS News interviewed Mr. Slavin and Ms. Korte for a news segment on accusations of editorial interference at Stars and Stripes. The segment featured Ms. Korte’s reporting about uncertainties that military families in the Middle East confronted as U.S. bases there were evacuated after Iranian attacks.
“According to the notice, I am being fired for stating in a CBS interview that censorship of news for service members would constitute a red line,” Mr. Slavin said in a statement. “I stand by the principle that Stars and Stripes must remain editorially independent, as required by law and by the department’s own policies.”
Federal regulations and Pentagon policy had emphasized editorial integrity of Stars and Stripes for decades, requiring “a free flow of news and information to its readership without news management or censorship.”
But in January, the Pentagon rescinded that regulation. Its chief spokesman, Sean Parnell, said in a social media post that Stars and Stripes, which is primarily read by U.S. service members and their families, must “refocus its content away from woke distractions.” In March, the Pentagon issued a memo banning the paper from running comics and reprinting articles from The Associated Press.
The memo said Stars and Stripes’s news articles “must be consistent with good order and discipline of the military,” which critics say is the language of military law that suppresses certain speech. The Uniform Code of Military Justice mandates punishment of “disloyal statements” or “contemptuous words” against the commander in chief and high-ranking government officials.
In April, the Pentagon fired Jacqueline Smith, the internal editorial watchdog of Stars and Stripes, after she criticized the agency for editorial interference. Congress created the watchdog position in 1991, designing it to report directly to lawmakers and to ensure the publication’s independent reporting. Ms. Smith has sued the Defense Department, claiming that it violated her First Amendment right.
In July, Mr. Slavin, the editor in chief, was asked by CBS which “foxhole” he was “willing to die in” if the editorial integrity at Stars and Stripes appeared to be consistently under threat.
“We need to be able to provide independent news to service members,” he said. “If we can’t do that, if we were turned into something other than that, if we were public relations? Yeah, that’s the foxhole.”
Erik Wemple contributed reporting.
