Removed Stars and Stripes leaders sue Pentagon
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
Three Stars and Stripes leaders sued the Pentagon on Thursday, alleging Defense Department officials are threatening to fire them in retaliation for exercising their First Amendment rights.
Why it matters: The lawsuit escalates a fight over the editorial independence of a military newspaper partially funded through congressional appropriations.
Catch up quick: Three Stars and Stripes leaders received proposed separation notices last Friday from the Pentagon.
- Erik Slavin, former editor-in-chief of the paper, told Axios he was fired for "insubordination" over a controversial July 5 interview with CBS News. He was removed alongside publisher Max Lederer and Middle East reporter Lara Korte.
- In his interview, Slavin said hypothetical censorship at Stars and Stripes would be a "red line" for him.
Context: Those comments came a month after two members of the paper's advisory board sued the Pentagon on First Amendment grounds over new restrictions on the outlet.
- A few weeks later, the paper's former ombudsman filed her own suit, arguing she was fired in retaliation for criticizing the Pentagon's new policies.
- "Our goal is to protect the rights of service members and their families to a free and independent press. Stars and Stripes has served them for generations, and that independence is essential to keeping military communities fully and accurately informed," the plaintiffs said in a statement.
- "This lawsuit is about safeguarding that mission and ensuring our civilian and military journalists can do their jobs without retaliation."
Zoom in: In their lawsuit, Slavin, Lederer and Korte are asking a federal judge to stop the Pentagon from terminating their employment.
- They are seeking a preliminary injunction to block the Pentagon from terminating their jobs, which they believe could happen as soon as Friday.
- Representatives for the Pentagon did not immediately respond to Axios' Thursday-evening request for comment.
Zoom out: Stars and Stripes, which has been continuously published since World War II, has long existed as a source of independent news for the U.S. military community, especially service members overseas.
- Its editorial independence has enabled reporting on major stories, including recent reports about the mental health crisis aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.
- Slavin told Axios this week that his separation notice came around 10 days after the outlet broke its initial story on that issue.
The big picture: The firings at Stars and Stripes follow a long list of efforts by the Pentagon to tighten press coverage and control information.
- In January, the Pentagon's chief spokesman, Sean Parnell, said the Defense Department planned to "refocus" the paper's content "away from woke distractions that syphon morale, and adapt it to serve a new generation of service members."
