Stars and Stripes, an independent news organization that has chronicled military life for generations of U.S. service members, says its First Amendment rights are being threatened by an announcement that the Pentagon would take over editorial decisions. A top Defense Department official said the publication had become too “woke” and its content was due for […]
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Stars and Stripes, an independent news organization that has chronicled military life for generations of U.S. service members, says its First Amendment rights are being threatened by an announcement that the Pentagon would take over editorial decisions.
A top Defense Department official said the publication had become too “woke” and its content was due for a “refocus.”
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“Stars & Stripes will be custom tailored to our warfighters,” Sean Parnell, a top public affairs official at the Pentagon, wrote on X. “It will focus on warfighting, weapons systems, fitness, lethality, survivability, and ALL THINGS MILITARY. No more repurposed DC gossip columns; no more Associated Press reprints.”
The Pentagon plans to replace civilian journalists with active-duty service members, according to a Daily Wire report. About half the publication’s content would consist of material generated by the Defense Department, The Daily Wire reported.
Stars and Stripes and its journalists pushed back, saying the Pentagon’s decision appears to challenge the publication’s editorial independence and could give the appearance it is a propaganda organ.
In an article reporting on the Pentagon announcement, Stars and Stripes journalist Corey Dickstein noted that the publication has retained its editorial independence from the Pentagon for decades, despite being part of the Defense Department’s Defense Media Activity.
What is the Pentagon’s reasoning behind the change?
Parnell said Stars and Stripes was no longer delivering on its “original mission,” which he said was reporting for “Warfighters,” a term frequently used by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“Stars & Stripes has a proud legacy of reporting news that’s important to our service members,” Parnell wrote. “The Department of War is committed to ensuring the outlet continues to reflect that proud legacy.”
Parnell used the Trump administration’s preferred name for the Defense Department, which has not been approved by Congress.
Parnell said the publication’s current content damages troop morale because of “woke distractions.” He did not elaborate, but said the Pentagon’s changes were intended “to serve a new generation of service members.”
Hegseth reposted Parnell’s X post.
STATEMENT:
The Department of War is returning Stars & Stripes to its original mission: reporting for our warfighters.
We are bringing Stars & Stripes into the 21st century. We will modernize its operations, refocus its content away from woke distractions that syphon morale,…
— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellASW) January 15, 2026
The White House said the move was an example of how President Donald Trump is modernizing military institutions.
“The Department of War, under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Hegseth, is continuing to revitalize, restore, and modernize,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said. “Stars and Stripes is just the latest example of a broader effort to adapt long-standing institutions to how today’s service members live, work, and consume information.”
How have people reacted?
Stars and Stripes ombudsman Jacqueline Smith pushed back on the administration’s messaging.
“I can say with assurance that Stripes does focus on ‘warfighters’ in every aspect that affects them and their families,” she told the Stripes.
She argued that the proposed changes amounted to “unnecessary control” and might foster the “perception of propaganda.”
Straight Arrow News has reached out to Smith for comment.
Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee spoke out against the administration’s plan.
“I certainly will push back,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a Marine Corps veteran, told the publication, “because I think that the independence of Stars and Stripes is absolutely essential to the public knowing the truth about what’s happening in our military and also a measure of respect to our men and women who serve and sacrifice.”
Kevin Baron, who worked as a Stars and Stripes writer for three years, condemned the proposed changes in a post on X condemning the proposed changes, reiterating the publication’s comments on its independence from the Pentagon.
So this is illegal. Stars & Stripes is protected from Pentagon interference by law. I know. I was a Stripes reporter for three years. I’m available for comment. https://t.co/cwaAoTKAqx
— Kevin Baron (@DefenseBaron) January 15, 2026
“So this is illegal,” Baron wrote in a different post. “Stars & Stripes is protected from Pentagon interference by law. I know. I was a Stripes reporter for three years.”
SAN has reached out to Baron for comment.
Does this violate the First Amendment?
Critics of the decision say it violates the First Amendment. Tim Richardson, the journalism and disinformation program director for PEN America, said troops overseas deserve a credible news source.
“This action tramples both the First Amendment and the congressional mandate that the publication remain editorially independent,” he wrote in a statement. “As President Trump proposes a significant increase in Defense Department spending and new foreign military operations, the United States needs more independent reporting – not less.”
Richardson called on Congress to protect the publication’s editorial independence and ensure it’s free from “political influence.”
In a note to the publication’s staff, Stars and Stripes Editor-in-Chief Erik Slavin concurred with Richardson’s opinion.
“The people who risk their lives in defense of the Constitution have earned the right to the press freedoms of the First Amendment,” Slavin wrote, according to the Stripes. “We will not compromise on serving them with accurate and balanced coverage, holding military officials to account when called for.”
The assertion of control by the Pentagon comes as Trump and his administration carry out broad attacks on the media. Trump is the first sitting president in a century to file libel lawsuits against news organizations, and just Wednesday, the FBI took the unusual step of raiding the home of a Washington Post reporter as part of a leak investigation.
“This is a move away from the kind of transparency and traditional reporting that you would hope for from Stars and Stripes,” Katherine Jacobsen, a program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists, told The Washington Post. The Defense Department’s action is “very much in keeping with the administration’s relentless efforts to control the narrative,” she said.
History of Stars and Stripes
Union soldiers began publishing Stars and Stripes during the Civil War in 1861, according to the publication’s website. Soldiers produced four editions of the paper before the war ended in 1865.
The Stripes went dormant until World War I, with the first new edition appearing in February 1918. An all-military staff produced the then-weekly paper to serve the troops of the American Expeditionary Force.
Some of that staff later became world-renowned journalists, including the founder of The New Yorker, Harold Ross.
Once again, the publication ended operations until the Second World War, when a small group of servicemen began a four-page weekly paper in a London print shop. Before long, the small team was producing daily eight-page papers for troops.
Following the end of WWII, the paper remained operational, as military officials instructed it to stay in circulation as long as there were U.S. troops abroad.
During this time, staff began returning to civilian life and civilian staff soon replaced the military staff the publication previously had.
Stars and Stripes continued throughout the Korean and Vietnam wars and the wars in the Middle East. Then in 2004, the paper began offering a digital edition. In 2012, it released a phone app.
The Pentagon provides about half its budget, and its employees are Defense Department employees.
The publication says it averages more than a million daily readers and “covers many countries where there are U.S. bases, posts, servicemembers, ships, or embassies.”
