Erik Slavin, the editor-in-chief, said he was being fired for insubordination. It happened after he stated in a CBS interview last month that censorship of news for service members would constitute a red line in the Pentagon’s efforts to exert control over the newspaper.
Also fired were Max Lederer, the retiring publisher who is critical of the administration, and reporter Lara Korte. She’s from Wokeville.
Bad Bunny and Poor Conditions
In June, Stars and Stripes published a story about upcoming European concerts by the rapper Bad Bunny. They are much-hyped, unfulfilling concerts. President Trump described the one in the US as the worst ever. Lara Korte, the reporter who wrote that story, covers the Middle East for Stars and Stripes.
She was asked how it related to the military. Korte said, “We have a lot of people who are newly stationed here overseas. They want to find interesting trips to take. They want to have fun. Of course, she picked Bad Bunny, who is pro-open borders.
“I’m working for Stars and Stripes,” she added, “not for the Pentagon, not for any administration, not for any policymaker. I’m here to cover the military community.”
Recently, Stars and Stripes, along with the Military Times, reported on challenging conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, writing that family members of service members aboard the aircraft carrier were concerned about their loved ones’ mental health and risk of self-harm.
They put up an article about families allegedly suffering from food insecurity.
Refocusing
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell has talked about “bringing Stars and Stripes into the 21st century” and efforts to “refocus its content away from woke distractions that siphon morale, and adapt it to serve a new generation of service members.”
When asked for comment, a Pentagon spokesman cited an open letter to stakeholders penned by Military Deputy to the Publisher Captain William Urban, a portion of which was shared on X by Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell.
“We may never be able to have the same impact for our service members digitally that our paper had during World War II in a vastly different media environment, but I also believe that we can do better — that we must do better for our most important constituency, the men and women who make up the U.S. Armed Forces,” Urban wrote.
“My vision for the future of Stars and Stripes is simple: 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.”
Bottom Line: It’s not working well now…
Stars & Stripes has fewer than 30,000 digital subscribers and sells fewer than 10,000 copies. That’s pathetic. The plan is to turn this back into a warfighting magazine.
Half of this paper is taxpayer-funded. Their readership is low. And they publish dopey stories about Bad Bunny concerts (Bad Bunny hates the US) and DC gossip.
Watch this:
The editor-in-chief and 2 other journalists at the military news organization “Stars and Stripes” have been fired
The editor-in-chief says this is about “censorship”
But Stephen Miller says they were fired for a good reason. For those unaware “Stars and Stripes” has been… pic.twitter.com/9z3qPBhUZa
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) August 22, 2026