The Pentagon has fired the editor-in-chief of the Stars and Stripes newspaper
The Pentagon has fired Eric Slavine, editor-in-chief of the U.S. military newspaper *Stars and Stripes*, and its Middle East correspondent, Lara Corte. Slavin told the Associated Press that he had received a notice of termination, as had Corte, according to Al Jazeera English.
Longtime publisher Max Lederer, who had previously announced he would step down at the end of September, also received a separate notice. Slavin attributed the personnel decisions to the fact that the employees had publicly spoken out in defense of the newspaper’s editorial independence.
Stars and Stripes is funded by the Pentagon, but the publication has sought to maintain its independence in covering military issues. Slavin stated that, in his opinion, he may have been fired because of a comment he made in a CBS interview: he said that hypothetical censorship of news for service members would be a “red line.”
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According to Al Jazeera English, pressure on the publication had been mounting for several months. In January, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell stated that the department intended to return Stars and Stripes to covering topics relevant to the military, including combat operations, weapons, physical training, and survivability. In April, the publication’s ombudswoman, Jacqueline Smith, who oversaw issues of ethics and editorial independence, was fired.
U.S. Navy Captain William Urban, a Pentagon spokesperson, was also appointed deputy publisher of the newspaper. According to Al Jazeera English, this happened without Lederer’s prior knowledge. In announcing his decision to step down, Lederer noted that his leadership approach differs fundamentally from the course set for the organization by the Department of Defense leadership.
Chris Vaccaro, president of the Society of Professional Journalists, stated that Stars and Stripes would be unable to fulfill its mission if its journalists and editorial leaders feared retaliation from officials for independent reporting. Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal, Elizabeth Warren, and Jean Shaheen called on Pentagon chief Pete Hagseth to provide an explanation regarding the erosion of the publication’s editorial independence.
