August 21, 2026
The Pentagon Fired the Editor of the Newspaper It Publishes for the Troops
The Quick Take
The Pentagon issued separation notices Friday to three people at Stars and Stripes — editor-in-chief Erik Slavin, Middle East reporter Lara Korte, and publisher Max Lederer, who had announced three days earlier that he would retire Sept. 30. The paper is funded by the Defense Department but has been editorially independent by tradition and statute for decades. Slavin says the stated cause was insubordination. Read more →
What He Says He Was Fired For
The interview aired on CBS on July 5. Asked then what a red line would look like, Slavin said: "Don't run a perfectly accurate story, run this instead. Here it is, written by the Pentagon. That would be a red line." Korte, in the same segment: "I'm working for Stars and Stripes, not for the Pentagon, not for any administration, not for any policymaker." A Defense Department spokesman declined to comment. The paper's congressionally mandated ombudsman was terminated in April.
📊 Consensus' Takeaways
Three people lost their jobs over an interview about whether they could be told what to print.
🗞 That Is the Censorship He Was Describing
"You cannot remove a man for saying censorship is a red line and call it unrelated."
⚓ The Pentagon Pays for the Paper
"It is a Defense Department publication. Going on national television against your own employer is insubordination anywhere else."
🎖 Troops Lose the One Paper That Covers Them
"Service members had exactly one outlet that reported on them without a press officer in the room."
