Service to the Country

Stars and Stripes does its duty for the USS Abraham Lincoln—and the First Amendment. Plus: Poll psychosis and book tracking.

When Max D. Lederer Jr., the longtime publisher of Stars and Stripes, announced his retirement on Tuesday, amid rumors that the Pentagon might fire him, it was the culmination of months of uncertainty. In January, Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, vowed on social media to turn coverage “away from woke distractions that syphon morale,” posing a public challenge to the autonomy of the paper, which is funded partly by the Pentagon but whose editorial independence is mandated by Congress. When Jacqueline Smith, the publication’s ombudsman, spoke out against the administration’s efforts to restrict and remake Stripes, Parnell fired her. Just after she was dismissed, she published a column, writing, “The House and Senate Armed Services committees have long had an interest in ensuring that unfiltered news went to the troops who are fighting for our country and deserved to read the truth, not propaganda.”