The Defense Department outlined a sweeping “modernization” effort for Stars and Stripes, the independent military newspaper, according to an internal memo reviewed by The Washington Post, following up on a promise made in January to overhaul the publication and rid it of “woke distractions.”
The memo, sent by Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen A. Feinberg on March 9, says the newspaper “must modernize to remain relevant and viable” in the digital age. It also introduces an “interim policy” governing the newspaper effective immediately that Feinberg says replaces previous Pentagon instructions. That policy restricts the use of wire services and says that content in the paper, known as Stripes, must be consistent with “good order and discipline,” a phrase used in military justice.
Stripes ombudsman Jacqueline Smith, who is charged by Congress with defending the outlet’s editorial independence, told The Post in an interview that the memo “threatens Stars and Stripes’ continued editorial independence, and it does so at the detriment of the troops who rely on the newspaper for complete coverage and continued accurate coverage that is not propaganda.”
The eight-page memo outlining new restrictions for Stripes content was sent nearly two months after Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesperson, promised the department would revamp the newspaper to “focus on warfighting, weapons systems, fitness, lethality, survivability, and ALL THINGS MILITARY.”
Stripes, which first reported the memo Friday, was first published during the Civil War and has continuously reported on and for the U.S. military community since World War II. Although the newspaper receives a third or more of its funding from the Pentagon — with the rest derived from subscriptions and advertising — Congress has long affirmed the newspaper’s editorial independence.
Parnell said in a statement Friday that the Defense Department is returning Stripes to “its original mission: an independent news source for service members stationed overseas that is by the warfighter and for the warfighter.”
Parnell continued: “This will be achieved through a comprehensive modernization of S&S operations, including a transition from print to digital, transition to uniformed staff at locations outside the continental U.S., and other efficiency measures that will eliminate redundancies and ensure smart use of DOW resources. The Department’s effort will evolve S&S to meet industry trends and changes in how new generations of Service members consume media.”
Since President Donald Trump’s reelection, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News host, has repeatedly sparred with the media. In October, hundreds of credentialed Pentagon reporters turned in their credentials and dozens walked out of the building after refusing to sign a policy prohibiting journalists from soliciting any information the government did not authorize.
Throughout those tussles, Stripes journalists were exempt from those access rules as Pentagon employees and continued to report independently from oversight from defense officials. But in January, that independence appeared to crack. The Post reported that applications for jobs at Stars and Stripes included a question about how applicants would support the president’s policies.
After weeks of silence from the Pentagon on Stripes, the March memo suggests that the newspaper may soon experience more sweeping changes.
Editor in Chief Erik Slavin told The Post that he learned about the memo on Thursday — three days after it was issued — when a staffer found it on a Defense Department website. He said the Pentagon has not communicated with the newspaper about the memo, besides a statement sent for the newspaper’s own coverage of the memo.
“My first reaction, of course, was one of deep concern for our newsgathering and for our readers,” Slavin said in an interview. “The memo refers to the continued independence of Stars and Stripes, and then proceeds to set a number of restrictions on Stars and Stripes.”
The memo was addressed to senior Pentagon leaders and commanders and also copied in Stripes Publisher Max Lederer, according to the document, which The Post reviewed. Slavin says Lederer never received it. Lederer did not respond to a request for comment.
The interim policy introduced by the memo stated that Stripes “publishes accurate, fair, impartial, and credible news.” It also said the paper’s content must be consistent with “good order and discipline,” a phrase borrowed from the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
“That’s one of the lines that makes the mention of independence just be lip service,” Smith, the ombudsman, said.
Slavin said he was also concerned by that echo of military law. “That line is used at military court-martials,” he said. “That raises the question for our uniformed staff, if they write something that the military doesn’t like, will they be subject to court-martial? I don’t know.” The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a question about that scenario.
One Stripes reporter said they are concerned about the newspaper’s future. “For me, a concern is they’re just going to start wanting to fill Stars and Stripes with a bunch of press releases,” said the reporter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because their employer did not authorize them to comment.
The interim policy attached to the memo states that Stripes should republish content from Pentagon public affairs if the publisher determines it is relevant to readers but that it will be clearly labeled as public affairs content.
Press advocacy group PEN America said it is “alarmed” by the memo. “Service members and military families rely on Stars and Stripes for independent reporting, not for material shaped or dictated by the very officials the paper is supposed to hold accountable,” Tim Richardson, the organization’s journalism and disinformation program director, said in a statement.
Katherine Jacobsen, the U.S., Canada and Caribbean program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the new Stripes policy adds to the Trump administration’s wider crackdown on the press. “This is part of a broader trend, not only of the Pentagon’s war against journalists, but of this administration’s attempt to control the narrative so that they can enact their policies without any sort of accountability,” Jacobsen said.
The interim policy introduced by the memo also said Stripes is now “prohibited from purchasing or contracting for news stories, features, syndicated columns, comic strips, and editorial cartoons” unless they receive explicit approval.
Slavin said the newspaper relies on newswire services including from the Associated Press and The Post for coverage of areas such as sports, entertainment and video games. “Those kinds of things do boost morale for service members, and it’s going to be far more difficult to provide that for them,” Slavin said.
The newspaper would comply, he added. “We still intend to produce the most balanced and accurate reporting that we possibly can, and we will look for new opportunities to do that under the constraints that we have now,” Slavin said.
The post Pentagon tightens control of Stars and Stripes after blasting it as ‘woke’ appeared first on Washington Post.
