Pentagon moves to turn independent military outlet into a ‘mouthpiece,’ advocates warn
By Brian Stelter, CNN
(CNN) — The Trump administration is exerting political pressure on Stars & Stripes, the independent military newspaper that informs US servicemembers worldwide.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced Thursday that the Department of Defense will “modernize” the outlet and “refocus its content away from woke distractions that syphon morale, and adapt it to serve a new generation of service members.”
Parnell’s statement came as a shock to staffers at Stars & Stripes, who haven’t heard directly about any changes yet, and who now fear that the news outlet’s independence and credibility is at risk.
The statement also drew swift criticism from several Democratic lawmakers and First Amendment advocates.
“The Pentagon is trying to turn this independent newsroom into a mouthpiece for the administration’s political messaging,” said Tim Richardson, journalism and disinformation program director for PEN America. “This action tramples both the First Amendment and the congressional mandate that the publication remain editorially independent.”
Congress has repeatedly affirmed and sought to protect the newspaper’s unique status.
Stars & Stripes is a product of the US military and is partly funded by the Pentagon, but it models itself after commercial newspapers and covers the news freely, “without news management or censorship,” as Department of Defense policy states.
“By keeping its audience informed, Stars and Stripes enhances military readiness and better enables U.S. military personnel and their families stationed overseas to exercise their responsibilities of citizenship,” the newspaper’s website says.
Parnell, a close ally of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, described a few specific adjustments. “No more repurposed DC gossip columns; no more Associated Press reprints,” he wrote.
Like many papers, Stars & Stripes runs wire stories from The Associated Press and Reuters, but Pentagon officials told right-wing website The Daily Wire that “this will no longer be the case.”
The Daily Wire also reported that all of the paper’s content “will be written by active-duty service members,” which alarmed the civilian staff who currently write stories.
Parnell described Stars & Stripes as being “custom tailored to our warfighters” going forward, prompting some journalists to say that the paper already is.
With no further details about what’s next, “people are obviously concerned about what this means for our ability to produce journalism going forward,” a Stripes staffer told CNN on condition of anonymity.
Richardson, of PEN America, urged Congress to “continue to protect Stars and Stripes’ editorial independence and ensure the administration allows it to serve military members free from political influence.”
The-CNN-Wire
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