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Pentagon fires Stars and Stripes publisher, editor and reporter over insubordination
RePentagon fires Stars and Stripes publisher, editor and reporter over insubordination
The Pentagon dismissed the longtime publisher, editor-in-chief and a reporter of the military newspaper Stars and Stripes on Friday, citing insubordination tied to an unauthorized CBS interview about the outlet's editorial independence.
The Pentagon fired the top leadership of the military newspaper Stars and Stripes and one of its reporters on Friday, citing insubordination. Publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin and Middle East reporter Lara Korte all received dismissal notices, according to Fox News Digital.
The firings stem from Slavin and Korte's unauthorized participation in a «CBS Sunday Morning» segment that aired last month about the Pentagon's efforts to overhaul the paper. Lederer was dismissed after refusing to fire the two journalists at the direction of Pentagon leadership, a source familiar with the matter said.
Slavin said his dismissal notice stated he was being fired for telling a CBS interviewer that censorship of news for service members would constitute a red line. «I stand by the principle that Stars and Stripes must remain editorially independent, as required by law and by the department's own policies,» Slavin said in a statement. He was appointed editor-in-chief in September 2025 after joining the paper in 2005 as a reporter in Japan and later embedding with U.S. Forces in Iraq.
Korte, who joined the paper in 2024, wrote on X that she was informed the Department of Defense was firing her for insubordination after she told a CBS reporter that she works for Stars and Stripes — not the Pentagon, not any administration and not any policy maker. «I consider it a great privilege to live alongside members of the military and share their stories. It's a shame for the institution and service members, who swore to defend the Constitution and deserve the right to a free and independent press,» she wrote. She also expressed pride in her colleagues' work, particularly covering the protracted conflict in Iran over the past six months.
Lederer, an Army veteran who joined Stars and Stripes in 1992 and served as publisher for 19 years, had previously announced his intention to retire at the end of September due to «fundamental» differences with Pentagon leadership over the paper's direction. «I leave with real pride in what we have accomplished together and with complete confidence in what you will accomplish next,» he wrote to staff. The fired staffers were granted five days to appeal their dismissals.
When asked for comment, a Pentagon spokesman cited an open letter from Military Deputy to the Publisher Captain William Urban, part of which was shared on X by Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell. Urban wrote that his vision for Stars and Stripes is «more eyeballs on our content and more impact on our service members while maintaining the highest standard of professional journalism with the credibility that comes with editorial independence.»
The Pentagon announced its overhaul of the long-running newspaper in January. Parnell posted that the Department of War is returning Stars and Stripes to its original mission of reporting for warfighters, modernizing operations and refocusing content away from what he called «woke distractions.» The outlet, he said, will focus on warfighting, weapons systems, fitness, lethality, survivability and military matters, with no more «repurposed DC gossip columns» or Associated Press reprints.
The Pentagon fired the Stars and Stripes ombudsman in April after he had been an outspoken critic of the administration's oversight of the paper.
