Stars and Stripes Journalists Take Pentagon To Court Over Firings

By Staff, Agencies

Three journalists fired from Stars and Stripes have sued the Pentagon seeking reinstatement, saying they were dismissed for defending the outlet’s editorial independence and for reporting critically on worsening conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, POLITICO reported.

“The Pentagon is trying to punish journalists for defending the established mission of Stars and Stripes,” Taryn Wilgus Null of the Democracy Defenders Fund said, stressing that service members and their families need independent reporting that can scrutinize officials.

Publisher Max Lederer, Editor-in-Chief Erik Slavin and reporter Lara Korte were dismissed on August 21 over what the Pentagon called insubordination related to a July 5 CBS News interview in which Slavin and Korte defended the publication’s editorial independence.

The journalists said their comments reflected the War Department’s own longstanding position on the outlet’s independence, while noting that the dismissals followed critical reporting on the Lincoln.

Lederer said the Pentagon directed him to fire Slavin and Korte one day after an August 11 report on the carrier was published. He refused and later retired, raising concerns about the paper’s direction.

Meanwhile, a 45-page lawsuit filed August 27 in federal court in Washington names War Secretary Pete Hegseth, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell and Hegseth’s principal deputy assistant Andrew Brey, along with the Department of War. The suit reports violations of the journalists’ First Amendment rights.

“I’m working for Stars and Stripes… not for the Pentagon, not for any administration, not for any policymaker,” Korte said in the complaint. Slavin similarly stressed that the outlet must be able to provide independent news to service members.

David Schulz of Yale Law School’s Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic, which represents the journalists, said the Pentagon’s actions against Stars and Stripes were part of a broader effort to control the press, saying that the administration “does not want an effective or independent press.”

The reporting at the center of the dispute documented deteriorating conditions aboard the Lincoln and the severe physical and mental toll on its crew during a deployment lasting more than 250 consecutive days at sea.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said sailors aboard the carrier “paid the price” during Hegseth’s tenure, citing reports of sailors being restrained from attempting to jump overboard, food rationing, poor sanitation and disrupted mail during the extended deployment amid the war on Iran. Hegseth has rejected the accounts as “completely misrepresented.”

Founded during the Civil War, Stars and Stripes has long maintained editorial independence despite receiving about half of its $29 million annual budget from the War Department.

The Pentagon has since sought greater control over the outlet, including attempts to restrict syndicated content, while its ombudsman was also fired after warning that expanded oversight threatened its independence.

The dispute comes amid broader press restrictions under Hegseth, which have prompted dozens of journalists to surrender Pentagon credentials.