AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
The Pentagon blocked its own military news publication, Stars and Stripes, from attending Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s press conference on Thursday.
“Stars and Stripes was not approved by the Pentagon to attend this press conference. I will be be watching it on a screen instead,” revealed Stars and Stripes Pentagon reporter Matthew Adams in a social media post. “Seems a bit odd since the Pentagon published a memo with changes to the newspaper, including content overhaul.”
The Pentagon’s decision shocked social media users, including former Stars and Stripes reporter Kevin Baron, who reacted, “The Pentagon blackballed its own newspaper from covering its own press conference? Reminder, Stars & Stripes employees are US Army civilians. Their editorial independence is protected by Congress specifically to prevent political leaders from feeding troops propaganda.”
The move came just days after Stars and Stripes reported that the Pentagon would be “introducing new restrictions on content” in its publication, including the requirement that content abide by “good order and discipline.”
The Stars and Stripes report included quotes from “press freedom advocates” who warned that the changes were “a threat to the First Amendment.”
“This clearly shows that the Pentagon is trying to increase its influence over content decisions at Stars and Stripes,” PEN America’s Timothy Richardson told the publication. “That’s a threat to the First Amendment, certainly, and the independence that the Congress has long guaranteed for the newsroom.”
In January, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced that the Trump administration would be making changes to Stars and Stripes in an effort to “modernize its operations” and “refocus its content away from woke distractions that syphon morale.”
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