Military newspaper Stars and Stripes will “refocus” to no longer cover “gossip” and “woke distractions,” the War Department announced Thursday.
“The Department of War is returning Stars & Stripes to its original mission: reporting for our warfighters,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell wrote on X.
Parnell said the changes will bring the publication “into the 21st century.”
“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,” he wrote.
“Stars & Stripes will be custom tailored to our warfighters,” Parnell continued. “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 newspaper, founded during the Civil War and revived as World War I raged in Europe, receives about half its annual funding from the Pentagon.
Taxpayer money is “primarily used to print and distribute the newspaper to troops scattered across the globe,” according to the Stars and Stripes.
The publication maintains that it has “editorial independence and is congressionally mandated to be governed by First Amendment principles,” though staff members are considered Department of War employees.
“Stars & Stripes has a proud legacy of reporting news that’s important to our service members,” Parnell said. “The Department of War is committed to ensuring the outlet continues to reflect that proud legacy.”
In a message to staffers, Stars and Stripes Editor-in-Chief Erik Slavin pledged that the publication would remain independent despite the Pentagon’s order.
“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 in a note to editorial staff, according to the outlet.
“We will not compromise on serving them with accurate and balanced coverage, holding military officials to account when called for,” he added.