Stars and Stripes shows how government-funded journalism can work – if it’s free to report the truth

Stars and Stripes, the military newspaper that has covered troops since 1918 and operated with editorial independence protected by orders going back to Pershing and Eisenhower, saw its publisher, editor and a reporter fired on Aug. 21, 2026. The Pentagon cited insubordination and unauthorized media appearances, but the firings came after the outlet ran stories on food and water shortages aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, sailors' mental health struggles, and the chaotic evacuation of military families from Bahrain.

Reporter Alison Bath's carrier reporting drew a public rebuke from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who said it misrepresented the situation; the Pentagon has not disputed the accuracy of Lara Korte's Bahrain reporting, the story for which she was also fired. Roughly half of Stripes' budget comes from a Defense Department subsidy that has, since the 1950s, come with a legal mandate for editorial freedom.

Earlier this year the Pentagon also fired the paper's ombudsman, the person tasked with protecting that independence, and issued new guidelines requiring coverage stay ‘consistent with good order and discipline.’ A Pentagon spokesperson described the moves as refocusing the outlet away from what he called woke distractions that sap morale.

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