Pentagon is censoring military newspaper Stars and Stripes, lawsuit alleges

Listen to this article

Two advisory board members of Stars and Stripes, the military newspaper that has long enjoyed editorial independence from the government, sued the Defense Department on Wednesday, alleging that an effort to impose new restrictions on the paper was an act of illegal censorship.

The complaint, filed in federal district court in Washington, comes from Susan “Suki” Dardarian and William “Bill” Church, two Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalists on the Stripes advisory board. Dardarian is a former editor and senior vice president of the Minnesota Star Tribune, and Church is the executive editor of the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper.

“Unlawfully censoring ‘the soldiers’ paper’ is an insult to the dedicated members of the armed forces and an attack on the freedom of speech – a foundational Constitutional principle for which those brave service people dedicate their lives,” wrote Skye Perryman, the president and CEO of Democracy Forward, which is representing the two plaintiffs.

In March, the Defense Department outlined a broad “modernization” effort for the newspaper, according to an internal memo reviewed at the time by The Washington Post. That memo followed up on a pledge made in January to overhaul the publication and rid it of “woke distractions.”

In April, Defense Department official Sean Parnell fired the publication’s ombudsman, a role charged by Congress with safeguarding the paper’s editorial independence.

Jacqueline Smith, the ombudsman, told The Post at the time that she believed she was fired for speaking out against interference at the newspaper.

“I’ve been outspoken about my concern with increasing restrictions on the press by the Pentagon and, in particular, very concerned about the editorial independence of Stars and Stripes,” Smith said in April. “All of this speaking out made me vulnerable.”

Wednesday’s lawsuit marks the first legal challenge to assert the newspaper’s independence in the face of these actions taken by the Pentagon. In the complaint, the plaintiffs ask a federal judge to strike down the March memo as unlawful and restore the editorial protections that have been afforded to the paper.

The suit’s key claims allege that the memo violates the First Amendment’s press freedom guarantees, as well as federal administrative law.

In a statement, Dardarian said that the suit “was the only way to protect Stars and Stripes and preserve its mission and values at such a critical time in our nation’s history.”

Church said he first read Stars and Stripes when he was 12 years old. “The changes that have been forced upon Stripes are a disservice to a global military audience that has relied on this First Amendment-protected and Congressionally backed institution for generations,” Church said in a statement.

Stars and Stripes said in a statement that it has a “long-standing mission to provide independent journalism to the military community, and that independence is fundamental to our credibility and our purpose.”

“Our newsroom continues to operate in that spirit while working within the guidance we’ve been given,” the outlet said. “At the same time, there are still open questions about how that guidance will affect what we are able to provide to our readers over the long term. While we are not a party to any legal action, we acknowledge the concerns that have been raised. Our priority remains serving service members and their families with accurate, fact-based reporting wherever they are.”

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the suit.

Scott Nover and Liam Scott report for The Washington Post.