Three staff members from the Stars and Stripes military newspaper have filed a lawsuit against the United States Department of Defense, alleging that their recent firing was part of an effort to erode the paper’s independence.
In Thursday’s court filings, the newspaper’s publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin and Middle East reporter Lara Korte argued that their First Amendment rights to free speech had been infringed.
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The Stars and Stripes has long billed itself as an independent source for military news, though it receives government funding for its operations.
But last week, the three journalists received notices of termination from the Pentagon that reportedly accused them of insubordination.
That has raised questions about the Defense Department’s longtime commitment to respecting the newspaper’s editorial independence.
Thursday’s complaint accuses the department and several of its leaders, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, of engaging in “extraordinary censorship efforts”.
“Defendants are attempting to fire Plaintiffs for speaking up as private citizens in support of the press’s freedom to cover military operations,” the lawsuit says.
“This [legal] action seeks to prevent the blatant violation of the First Amendment rights of these journalists.”
The case is set to be heard in a district court in Washington, DC.
Korte explained the journalists’ reason for filing the lawsuit in a social media post.
“Everyone deserves the right to a free and independent press, especially our service members,” she wrote. “This lawsuit is about safeguarding the mission of Stars and Stripes journalists so they can continue to do their jobs without fear or retaliation.”
The legal battle is the latest instance under President Donald Trump of the executive branch being sued for allegedly penalising reporters and media personalities who do not comply with the administration’s viewpoints.
The lawsuit points to a July interview on CBS Sunday Morning as the “genesis” of the friction between the Stars and Stripes journalists and the Trump administration.
Both Korte and Slavin were featured in the segment. A reporter for the morning news show asked them about their work and recent statements from the Pentagon indicating it would seek to redirect the newspaper’s focus.
“You have a sign on your desk: Pick your battles,” CBS News reporter David Martin asked Slavin. “Which foxholes are you willing to die in?”
“We need to be able to provide independent news to service members,” Slavin responded. “If we can’t do that, if we were turned into something other than that, if we were public relations, that’s the foxhole.”
The CBS interview followed a statement in January, in which Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said his department would return Stars and Stripes “to its original mission: reporting for our warfighters”.
“We will modernize its operations, refocus its content away from woke distractions that syphon morale, and adapt it to serve a new generation of service members,” Parnell wrote.
“It will focus on warfighting, weapons systems, fitness, lethality, survivability, and ALL THINGS MILITARY.”
But critics have denounced the modernisation initiative as a smokescreen through which the Pentagon is seeking to reshape the Stars and Stripes’ coverage.
The lawsuit points to the newspaper’s key role in breaking coverage about deteriorating conditions on board the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier that has been on deployment, without a port stop, since November of last year.
The Stars and Stripes was one of the first media outlets to cover the supply shortages on the ship, as well as the mental health struggles of the sailors working through the record-long deployment.
But Trump and Hegseth have both denied reports of poor living conditions on the USS Lincoln, calling such news “fake”.
The lawsuit suggests the recent firings may be retaliation for the Stars and Stripes reporting on the subject.
A day after one of its articles was published, the lawsuit alleges that the Defense Department contacted Lederer, the publisher, about firing Korte and Slavin. The department allegedly pointed to the CBS interview from weeks earlier as justification.
Lederer did not follow through with the order to deliver the termination notices. Instead, he announced his intention to retire in September.
His memo to the Stars and Stripes staff suggested he had disagreements with the “direction the leadership of the Department of Defense has for the organization”.
But on August ۲۱, the Department of Defense had issued termination notices to all three employees, including Lederer.
In April, the newspaper’s ombudsman, Jacqueline Smith, was also fired. Her role, in part, was charged with safeguarding the independence of the Stars and Stripes, a newspaper with a storied history, stretching back to the US Civil War.
Korte has worked at the paper since ۲۰۲۴. Her colleagues Slavin and Lederer have been with the Stars and Stripes for ۲۱ and ۲۵ years, respectively.
“Defense officials and military commanders have long made clear that Stripes would not be subject to interference by military officials,” the lawsuit says.
“Stripes’ historical editorial independence is critical to its core mission of gathering and providing unbiased, credible journalism to the US military community.”
