The Pentagon fires Stars and Stripes editor after a warning against censorship
Erik Slavin, who has led the U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes for 21 years, was dismissed by the Department of Defense the day after he told the BBC that censorship would be a “red line” in a hypothetical scenario. The dismissal came amid a broader crackdown on media coverage that appears to be tightening under the Trump administration.
Slavin said that Pentagon officials were “less and less inclined to speak on the record,” and that he was fired for stating that censorship could be a red line. He was not given an official explanation, and he was told he could not appeal the decision.
The decision also affected the paper’s publisher, Max Lederer, and a Middle East reporter, Lara Korte. All three were accused of insubordination after they spoke to CBS’s Sunday Morning last month, a move that the DoD claimed violated its rules.
Stars and Stripes has historically been editorially independent, with congressional mandates and DoD rules ensuring free coverage for U.S. troops worldwide. An average of 1.4 million readers consume its news daily, mostly online, but it is still printed for troops in areas where internet access is unreliable.
The paper’s fire comes as the U.S. Navy’s USS Abraham Lincoln has remained at sea for over 240 days in the Gulf, amid growing concerns about sailors’ mental health. Slavin said the dismissal occurred in a climate where the Pentagon had not held a press conference since May, and journalists were pushed to insist on accurate reporting.
The National Press Club’s president, Mark Schoeff Jr., called the firing “another brazen attempt by the Pentagon to dictate coverage of the military” and urged the decision to be reversed immediately.
The incident is part of a larger pattern of tensions between the Trump administration and major news outlets over access and reporting authority. The administration had previously denied journalists a press pool to cover presidential events and had attempted to restrict coverage to information officially authorized by the DoD.
For further context, see the U.S. judge’s order to restore Associated Press access to presidential events and the news about the U.S. Navy’s ongoing deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln.
