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The War Department announced Thursday that it is reforming the long-running military newspaper Stars and Stripes, raising questions about whether the paper will maintain its editorial independence.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Stars and Stripes will return to its “original mission: reporting for our warfighters.”
“We’re bringing Stars & Stripes into the 21st century,” Parnell wrote to X. “We will modernize its operations, strip its content away from morale-damaging distractions, and adapt it to serve the next generation of service members.”
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Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell announced reforms are being made to the military newspaper Stars and Stripes. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Parnell said its future reporting would prioritize “EVERYTHING MILITARY” and that the paper would no longer publish “reimagined D.C. gossip columns” and “Associated Press reprints.”
“Stars & Stripes has a proud heritage of reporting news that matters to our service members. The War Department is committed to ensuring the channel continues to reflect this proud heritage,” Parnell added.
According to its website, Stars and Stripes “provides independent news and information” to members of the U.S. military and their families and “remains editorially independent and is congressionally mandated to be governed by the principles of the First Amendment, but is part of the Pentagon’s Defense Media Activity.”
“Pentagon funding, which accounts for roughly half of Stars and Stripes’ annual budget, is used primarily to print and distribute the newspaper to troops dispersed around the world, including in war zones such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. The remainder of the news organization’s funding comes from advertising and subscriptions,” Stars and Stripes said in its report. Q&A page.
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But a report by The Washington Post suggests that editorial independence may be called into question, with new job applicants allegedly being “asked how they would support the president’s policy priorities.”
“In recent months, applicants for on-air positions were asked: ‘How would you develop the President’s Executive Orders and policy priorities in this role? Identify one or two relevant Executive Orders or policy initiatives that are important to you and describe how you would help implement them if hired,'” the Post reported. reported.
The Pentagon said Stars and Stripes is returning to its “original mission: reporting for our warfighters.” (ullstein bild via Getty Images)
According to the Post, executives at Stars and Stripes were unaware that applicants were being asked such questions until the Post brought it to their attention.
“Asking potential employees how they would support the administration’s policies is contrary to Stripes’ journalistic and federally mandated mission,” Stars and Stripes ombudsman Jacqueline Smith told the Post. “From a journalistic perspective, this is unethical because reporters or any staff (editors, photographers) must be impartial.”
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As the Post notes, Smith’s position as Stars and Stripes ombudsman is “a congressionally mandated position tasked with defending the newspaper’s editorial independence.”
Smith confirmed that the questions were asked to Stars and Stripes applicants by USAJobs, the federal government’s employment site, and that they came from the Office of Personnel Management.
Concerns were raised about whether Stars and Stripes could maintain editorial independence from Pentagon leadership. (Staff/AFP via Getty Images)
OPM Director Scott Kupor told the Post that the essay questions are optional and are one of four questions all job applicants in the federal government receive.
“We have made it very clear that hiring decisions cannot take political or ideological beliefs into account,” Kupor said in a statement. he said. “The plan prohibits any ideological litmus test and reinforces the nonpartisan character of the federal workforce.”
When reached for comment, a Pentagon spokesman referred to Parnell and OPM’s statements and declined further comment.
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