{"id":12959,"date":"2026-01-16T16:29:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T16:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=12959"},"modified":"2026-01-16T16:29:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T16:29:14","slug":"press-advocates-condemn-pentagon-move-to-seize-editorial-control-of-stars-and-stripes-trump-administration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=12959","title":{"rendered":"Press advocates condemn Pentagon move to seize editorial control of Stars and Stripes | Trump administration"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

Press freedom advocates have condemned a move by the Pentagon to seize editorial control of the independent Stars and Stripes newspaper, a daily publication for service members that has covered the US armed forces<\/a> since the US civil war.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration<\/a> announced on Thursday that the outlet would no longer cover \u201cwoke distractions\u201d, and instead \u201cmodernize its operations \u2026 and adapt to serve a new generation of service members\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department of War is returning Stars & Stripes to its original mission: reporting for our warfighters,\u201d Sean Parnell, assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs, wrote on X<\/a>, using the government\u2019s informal new nickname for the defense department.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

\u201cIt will focus on warfighting, weapons systems, fitness, lethality, survivability, and ALL THINGS MILITARY. No more repurposed DC gossip columns; no more Associated Press reprints.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pentagon officials will now be in charge of content that \u201cwill be custom tailored to our warfighters\u201d, Parnell added.<\/p>\n

The government published a final rule<\/a> in the federal register on Thursday that struck previous policy regarding Stars and Stripes\u2019 business operations, including a requirement for a civilian editor and an independent ombudsman who is \u201ca highly qualified journalist hired from outside the department of defense\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>The art department of the Stars and Stripes in Darmstadt, Germany, on 16 April 1952.<\/span> Photograph: Albert Riethausen\/AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The action drew immediate censure from press freedom groups as the latest attempt by the Pentagon to stifle criticism and control what is written about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerican troops overseas deserve credible, trustworthy news guaranteed by the first amendment, a cornerstone of the constitution they defend. Instead, the Pentagon is trying to turn this independent newsroom into a mouthpiece for the administration\u2019s political messaging,\u201d Tim Richardson, journalism and disinformation program director for PEN America, said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis action tramples both the first amendment and the congressional mandate that the publication remain editorially independent. As President Trump proposes a significant increase in defense department spending and new foreign military operations, the US needs more independent reporting, not less.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongress must continue to protect Stars and Stripes\u2019 editorial independence and ensure the administration allows it to serve military members free from political influence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erik Slavin, the newspaper\u2019s editor in chief, was equally forthright in a message to staff published in Stars and Stripes<\/a>. \u201cThe people who risk their lives in defense of the Constitution have earned the right to the press freedoms of the First Amendment,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not compromise on serving them with accurate and balanced coverage, holding military officials to account when called for.\u201d<\/p>\n

In December, the Pentagon press corps, a longstanding alliance of journalists from traditional, independent media groups, resigned en masse<\/a> over new policies set by the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, to restrict their activities. It was replaced by a hand-picked collection of \u201crightwing bloggers and Maga sycophants<\/a>\u201d perceived to be more compliant with Hegseth\u2019s demands.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

Stars and Stripes was founded in 1861 by Union troops in Missouri to serve as an informational asset for American soldiers in the final days of the civil war, according to the resource platform Ebsco<\/a>. Its articles and widespread circulation of 1.2m were credited with boosting the morale of US troops during the second world war by connecting them to life back home.<\/p>\n

It was the first to publish the iconic photograph of US marines raising the American flag at Iwo Jima<\/a> in 1945, which won a Pulitzer prize for photographer Joe Rosenthal; and in 2015 an investigation by its reporter Travis Tritten led to the downfall of the veteran NBC news anchor Brian Williams<\/a>, who falsely claimed he was in an army helicopter that was brought down by rocket fire in Iraq.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>American GIs read the news of Adolf Hitler\u2019s death in Stars and Stripes in 1945.<\/span> Photograph: Corbis\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While formally part of the Pentagon\u2019s media operations, Stars and Stripes has traditionally been protected by a congressional mandate and defense department directive<\/a> that states: \u201cThere shall be a free flow of news and information to its readership without news management or censorship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donald Trump has pursued an aggressive anti-press policy since returning to the White House a year ago, including filing lawsuits<\/a> against outlets that have been critical of him.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week the FBI raided the home of a Washington Post reporter<\/a> in Virginia; and on Thursday Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, launched an extraordinary personal tirade<\/a> during a press briefing against a reporter for the Hill who asked a question about last week\u2019s killing of an unarmed US citizen by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

The anti-media push has coincided with a dramatic increase in violence against journalists<\/a> in the US. The Freedom of the Press Foundation reported last month that assaults in 2025 almost matched the previous three years combined, and that dozens of reporters had been arrested or detained.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

#Press #advocates #condemn #Pentagon #move #seize #editorial #control #Stars #Stripes #Trump #administration<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Press freedom advocates have c… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12959"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}