Pentagon tightens controls over Stars and Stripes after calling it "woke"

## Summary
AMEL EMRIC/AP hide caption toggle caption AMEL EMRIC/AP The Defense Department has begun to exert greater control over Stars and Stripes , weeks after a top spokesman accused the independent military newspaper of focusing on "woke distractions." The Pentagon announced what it calls "modernization" changes this week, in a memo dated March 9 and effective immediately, according to a copy seen by NPR and first reported by Stars and Stripes on Friday. Stars and Stripes editor-in-chief Erik Slavin told NPR on Saturday that this phrase makes him particularly concerned for his staff reporters who are members of the U.S. military, and who thus can be court-martialed for violations of its uniform code of military justice. "If they were to complete a story that the Defense Department did not like, and did not find 'consistent with good order and discipline,' would they be in legal jeopardy?" Slavin said. "We don't know the answer to that." Pentagon says newspaper will be 'by the warfighter and for the warfighter' This new memo comes weeks after the Pentagon publicly criticized Stars and Stripes and promised an overhaul of the publication. "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," chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell wrote in a Jan. 15 post on X . In an emailed statement on Saturday, Parnell told NPR that the Defense Department "is returning [ Stars and Stripes ] to its original mission: an independent news source for service members stationed overseas that is by the warfighter and for the warfighter." Parnell added that the changes mean the newspaper "will evolve" in order "to meet industry trends and changes in how new generations of service members consume media." Slavin told NPR that the Defense Department had not responded to his efforts to communicate with them since that post, and the Pentagon did not send his newspaper the new memo directly — it only issued a statement for his newspaper's article about it.. (The memo said a copy would be sent to Stars and Stripes Publisher Max Lederer; Slavin told NPR Lederer did not receive a copy.) Slavin said he only found out about the memo on Thursday, three days after it was issued, after one of his staffers found it on a Defense Department website. The Pentagon will curtail coverage of war zones — and March Madness The Defense Department's new memo will likely also stifle much of Stars and Stripes ' daily newsgathering operations — including its ability to cover the new war in Iran or other combat zones where its military readers may be deployed.

## Article Content
Business
Pentagon tightens controls over Stars and Stripes after calling it "woke"
March 14, 2026
6:18 PM ET
By
Maria Aspan
US soldier Sgt. John Hubbuch of Versailles, Ky., one of the members of NATO led-peacekeeping forces in Bosnia reads Stars and Stripes newspaper on Sunday Feb. 14, 1999.
AMEL EMRIC/AP
hide caption
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AMEL EMRIC/AP
The Defense Department has begun to exert greater control over
Stars and Stripes
, weeks after a top spokesman accused the independent military newspaper of focusing on "woke distractions."
The Pentagon announced what it calls "modernization" changes this week, in a memo dated March 9 and effective immediately, according to a copy seen by NPR and first reported by
Stars and Stripes
on Friday. It's the latest effort by the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
to apply extraordinary limits
on journalists covering the agency.
The memo says that
Stars and Stripes
will continue to "operate with editorial independence." However, it also says that the newspaper must immediately begin implementing the Defense Department's new interim policies and stop publishing several types of content.
It also declares that the publication's content "must be consistent with good order and discipline," which is a phrase used in military justice.
Stars and Stripes
editor-in-chief Erik Slavin told NPR on Saturday that this phrase makes him particularly concerned for his staff reporters who are members of the U.S. military, and who thus can be court-martialed for violations of its uniform code of military justice.
"If they were to complete a story that the Defense Department did not like, and did not find 'consistent with good order and discipline,' would they be in legal jeopardy?" Slavin said. "We don't know the answer to that."
Pentagon says newspaper will be 'by the warfighter and for the warfighter'
This new memo
comes weeks after
the Pentagon publicly criticized
Stars and Stripes
and promised an overhaul of the publication.
"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," chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell wrote in
a Jan. 15 post on X
.
In an emailed statement on Saturday, Parnell told NPR that the Defense Department "is returning [
Stars and Stripes
] to its original mission: an independent news source for service members stationed overseas that is by the warfighter and for the warfighter." Parnell added that the changes mean the newspaper "will evolve" in order "to meet industry trends and changes in how new generations of service members consume media."
Slavin told NPR that the Defense Department
had not responded
to his efforts to communicate with them since that post, and the Pentagon did not send his newspaper the new memo directly — it only issued a statement for his
newspaper's article
about it.. (The memo said a copy would be sent to
Stars and Stripes
Publisher Max Lederer; Slavin told NPR Lederer did not receive a copy.)
Slavin said he only found out about the memo on Thursday, three days after it was issued, after one of his staffers found it on a Defense Department website.
Stars and Stripes
has served the U.S. military independently for decades
The newspaper's staff will be meeting Monday morning to figure out how to comply with the memo. Slavin said that he felt "deep concern for our staff and our readership" about the memo, since it "restricts what news sources can be published and directs that
Stars and Stripes
should publish official public relations stories."
Stars and Stripes
first covered the U.S. military during the Civil War, and has been published continuously since World War II. It is owned by the Defense Department but is largely staffed by civilian reporters and editors. By Congressional mandate, it has operated independently since the 1990s.
But under the Trump administration, the Pentagon has appeared to try to end that Congressional mandate. In January, the Defense Department withdrew a federal regulation that underpinned the mandate, according to
Stars and Stripes
. The new memo published this week says that the newspaper's ombudsman should now send information meant for Congress to the Department of Defense first, instead of directly to federal legislators.
Trump and Hegseth have sought to exert greater control over several media entities
Stars and Stripes
has historically
enjoyed bipartisan support
— including from President Trump. In 2020, during his first administration, the Pentagon
threatened to shut it down
, before Trump intervened. In a social-media post at the time, he called the newspaper "a wonderful source of information to our Great Military!"
But these days,
Trump
and
his allies
have sought to exert far greater
direct control
over
several
media entities — and Hegseth's Defense Department
has been particularly aggressive
on this front.
In September, Hegseth
unveiled a policy
that required media outlets to pledge not to g

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## Expert Analysis

### Merits
- AMEL EMRIC/AP hide caption toggle caption AMEL EMRIC/AP The Defense Department has begun to exert greater control over Stars and Stripes , weeks after a top spokesman accused the independent military newspaper of focusing on "woke distractions." The Pentagon announced what it calls "modernization" changes this week, in a memo dated March 9 and effective immediately, according to a copy seen by NPR and first reported by Stars and Stripes on Friday.
- Many news organizations publish stories from such wire services to inform readers about important news they do not have the resources to cover themselves.

### Areas for Consideration
- Slavin said that he felt "deep concern for our staff and our readership" about the memo, since it "restricts what news sources can be published and directs that Stars and Stripes should publish official public relations stories." Stars and Stripes first covered the U.S. military during the Civil War, and has been published continuously since World War II.

### Implications
- The memo says that Stars and Stripes will continue to "operate with editorial independence." However, it also says that the newspaper must immediately begin implementing the Defense Department's new interim policies and stop publishing several types of content.
- Stars and Stripes editor-in-chief Erik Slavin told NPR on Saturday that this phrase makes him particularly concerned for his staff reporters who are members of the U.S. military, and who thus can be court-martialed for violations of its uniform code of military justice. "If they were to complete a story that the Defense Department did not like, and did not find 'consistent with good order and discipline,' would they be in legal jeopardy?" Slavin said. "We don't know the answer to that." Pentagon says newspaper will be 'by the warfighter and for the warfighter' This new memo comes weeks after the Pentagon publicly criticized Stars and Stripes and promised an overhaul of the publication. "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," chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell wrote in a Jan. 15 post on X .
- In an emailed statement on Saturday, Parnell told NPR that the Defense Department "is returning [ Stars and Stripes ] to its original mission: an independent news source for service members stationed overseas that is by the warfighter and for the warfighter." Parnell added that the changes mean the newspaper "will evolve" in order "to meet industry trends and changes in how new generations of service members consume media." Slavin told NPR that the Defense Department had not responded to his efforts to communicate with them since that post, and the Pentagon did not send his newspaper the new memo directly — it only issued a statement for his newspaper's article about it.. (The memo said a copy would be sent to Stars and Stripes Publisher Max Lederer; Slavin told NPR Lederer did not receive a copy.) Slavin said he only found out about the memo on Thursday, three days after it was issued, after one of his staffers found it on a Defense Department website.
- Stars and Stripes has served the U.S. military independently for decades The newspaper's staff will be meeting Monday morning to figure out how to comply with the memo.

### Expert Commentary
This article covers stars, stripes, defense topics. Notable strengths include discussion of stars. Areas of concern are also raised. Readability: Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.0. Word count: 1112.