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Fired Stars And Stripes Publisher Slams Court Ruling Siding With Pentagon
HuffPost • • nation
Key Points:
- Former Stars and Stripes publisher Max Lederer, along with two other journalists, is suing the Pentagon after being fired for insubordination following their reporting on poor conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.
- The terminations came after Pentagon officials, including spokesman Sean Parnell, objected to the journalists’ coverage of a mental health crisis on the aircraft carrier and a CBS News interview where concerns about military censorship were raised.
- Lederer alleges he was pressured by Pentagon officials to fire editor-in-chief Erik Slavin and reporter Lara Korte for expressing personal opinions, which he argues are protected under the First Amendment.
- A federal judge denied the journalists’ request to block their terminations, ruling they were unlikely to prove a free speech violation, but Lederer affirmed the lawsuit will continue on constitutional grounds.
- Lederer criticized the Pentagon’s push for more command-driven information in military media, acknowledging that while public affairs content is not necessarily propaganda, it can present a one-sided narrative favoring the military’s viewpoint.
