Pentagon wants a ‘refocus,’ but Stripes hasn’t wavered from its true mission

Stars and Stripes, the legendary newspaper for the U.S. military community, is in peril of losing its editorial independence and becoming nothing more than a public relations arm of the Pentagon.

Your help is urgently needed to keep Stars and Stripes operating as an independent news source that adheres to journalistic principles and ethics. Your help is needed for Stripes to continue providing fair, accurate and unbiased news for those who are serving our country and our veterans. They deserve nothing less than the unfiltered truth.

Here is what is happening, why and what you can do about it.

My alarm is not exaggerated. On Jan. 15, Sean Parnell, who is the chief Pentagon spokesman for Department of Defense/War Secretary Pete Hegseth, posted on the social media site X four paragraphs announcing a refocus for Stripes. That was the first anyone at Stripes had heard of the Pentagon leadership’s intent.

“The Department of War is returning Stars & Stripes to its original mission: reporting for our warfighters,” Parnell wrote.

Actually, Stripes never deviated from that mission, though you don’t usually see the word “warfighters” used in place of soldiers, Marines, airmen and sailors in news stories.

Parnell wrote that the department would “refocus its content away from woke distractions that syphon morale.” As the ombudsman, I read the newspaper carefully, cover to cover, the website and newsletters and I cannot tell you what any “woke distractions” might be nor “repurposed DC gossip columns.”

Morale is important, Parnell is right about that. In fact, funding for Stripes is under the “morale, welfare and recreation” portion of the defense budget. Only a portion of Stripes’ operational budget is from defense funds, a moving target of lately anywhere from 35% to 45%. The rest is generated by Stripes such as from advertising.

“Stars & Stripes will be custom tailored to our warfighters. It will focus on warfighting, weapons systems, fitness, lethality, survivability, and ALL THINGS MILITARY,” Parnell wrote. Stripes readers already see stories about weapons systems and drills and fitness — and much more — stories affecting military families, about Defense Department schools overseas and health care. “Warfighters” do not live in isolation.

Those in the military also require unbiased information so that they can participate in the U.S. democracy as informed citizens. Stripes provides that.

The stories in Stripes do not lean right or left or support any particular ideology. From bases around the world, Stripes journalists provide news that is “objective, credible, and editorially independent of the military chain of command and military public affairs activities,” as required by the Code of Federal Regulations provision governing Stars and Stripes.

On the same day that Parnell posted on X, the department summarily and illegally shut down the complex review process for the regulation and removed the current regulation on the basis it was “unnecessary.” That leaves Stripes operating under guidelines in a 1994 Department of Defense directive, well before the digital age revolutionized news publishing. This might not sound troubling on the face of it, but directives written by the Defense Department can be changed on a whim. The action also ignores Congress’ intent for Stripes to remain editorially independent; three decades ago it created the position of ombudsman for the purpose of ensuring the independence.

Parnell’s statement was brief. The ramifications were spelled out, however, in a story on the Daily Wire in which unnamed “War Department officials” said stories will be written by active-duty service members and “Fifty percent of the website’s content will be composed of War Department-generated materials.”

If half the content is composed by the Pentagon, how could anyone trust the other half to be impartial? Credibility will turn to dust.

I believe that service members are smart. They do not need to be spoon-fed good news from the Department of Defense/War. Give them the full and fair picture and let them think for themselves. This is respecting those who serve.

What is happening with Stars and Stripes should be seen within the wider context of Pentagon restrictions of mainstream media. You might remember in recent months journalists who cover the Pentagon were told they must sign a form agreeing to report only approved information or else lose their credentials. What reputable journalist would agree to censorship? Scores walked out. They continue to cover the department through other means.

More recently, Stripes leadership found out that job applicants applying through the USAJOBS site, a funnel for all government positions, are asked whether they are loyal to the Trump administration and its policies. This is clearly antithetical to journalistic objectivity. Answering the questions is optional, the site states, but not in an obvious manner.

Given the overall press restrictions and the moves to take over editorial control of Stars and Stripes, the future of the reputable newspaper that dates to the Civil War is in danger.

This is where your help is needed. Immediately. Write to your U.S. senators and representative and tell them of the value of maintaining an unfettered news source for the military. Ask them to take action.

Not long ago, Stars and Stripes faced a real threat of being shut down. In 2020 then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper put zero funding in the defense budget. The outcry from those who value the newspaper was loud and strong. President Donald Trump, then in his first term, ordered the funds restored.

The president can do what’s right once again and defend continued editorial independence of Stars and Stripes for the good of the military men and women serving our country. No other news organization in the country has that focus and responsibility.

The Stars and Stripes ombudsman, in a role created in 1991 by the House Armed Services Committee, is tasked with reporting to Congress on any threats to the organization’s mission of providing independent news to U.S. service members and the military community.