Pentagon orders Stars and Stripes to eliminate “woke distractions”

Stars and Stripes is facing changes ordered by the Pentagon that the department says will refocus the independent military newspaper and eliminate “woke distractions.”

The Pentagon said it is changing the outlet so it concentrates on “reporting for our warfighters” and no longer includes “woke distractions,” according to an AP report that cited the Defense Department’s messaging from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office. The department’s comment was made Thursday, and AP said the messaging was short on specifics and did not mention the newspaper’s history of independence from government and military leadership.

Sean Parnell, identified by the Pentagon as Hegseth’s spokesman, wrote on X that the Pentagon “is returning Stars and Stripes to its original mission: reporting for our warfighters.” Parnell added that the department will “refocus its content away from woke distractions.”

In the same post, Parnell wrote: “Stars and Stripes will be custom tailored to our warfighters,” and said it will focus on “warfighting, weapons systems, fitness, lethality, survivability and ALL THINGS MILITARY.” Parnell wrote that there would be “No more repurposed DC gossip columns; no more Associated Press reprints.”

Stars and Stripes traces its lineage to the Civil War and has reported military news steadily since World War II, AP said, largely for a readership of service members stationed overseas. AP reported that roughly half of the outlet’s budget comes from the Pentagon and that its staff members are considered Defense Department employees.

The paper’s mission statement, as described by AP, says it is “editorially independent of interference from outside its own editorial chain-of-command” and describes itself as unique among news organizations tied to the Defense Department for being “governed by the principles of the First Amendment.” AP also said Congress established that independence in the 1990s after military leadership involvement in editorial decisions, and that the paper has been supported through congressional structure since then.

Max Lederer, the newspaper’s publisher, told AP that it was not clear what the Defense Department’s actions would mean for the outlet’s operations and whether the department has the authority to make changes without congressional authorization. Lederer said: “This will either destroy the value of the organization or significantly reduce its value.” AP reported that he said no one at the Pentagon had communicated directly to him what the department wants from Stars and Stripes, and that he first learned of the intentions by reading Parnell’s social media post.

Jacqueline Smith, the outlet’s ombudsman, said Stars and Stripes reports on matters important to service members and their families—not just weapons systems or war strategy—and she said she detected nothing “woke” about its reporting. Smith told AP that: “I think it’s very important that Stars and Stripes maintains its editorial independence, which is the basis of its credibility.” AP reported that Smith said her role was created by Congress three decades ago and that she reports to the House Armed Services Committee.

AP also described concerns raised by The Washington Post about job-application questions for potential Stars and Stripes employees. The Post reported that applicants were asked how they would advance President Donald Trump’s executive orders and policy priorities in the role and to identify one or two orders or initiatives that were significant to them, a framing the Post’s reporting raised as a potential loyalty test for journalists.

Smith said to AP that the Office of Personnel Management—not Stars and Stripes—was responsible for the job-application question and that it was consistent with questions asked of applicants for other government jobs. Smith said, however, it was not something that should be asked of journalists, and she said: “The loyalty is to the truth, not the administration.”

The dispute over Stars and Stripes comes as journalists and media outlets have raised concerns about restrictions imposed on coverage connected to the Pentagon, AP reported. AP said that the New York Times has sued to overturn regulations imposed by Hegseth that some journalists say would give him too much control over what they report and write.