Pentagon tightens controls over Stars and Stripes after calling it "woke"

Source: NPR

March 14, 2026 6:18 PM ET


The Defense Department has begun to exert greater control over Stars and Stripes, weeks after a top spokesman accused the independent military newspaper of focusing on "woke distractions."

The Pentagon announced what it calls "modernization" changes this week, in a memo dated March 9 and effective immediately, according to a copy seen by NPR and first reported by Stars and Stripes on Friday. It's the latest effort by the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to apply extraordinary limits on journalists covering the agency.

The memo says that Stars and Stripes will continue to "operate with editorial independence." However, it also says that the newspaper must immediately begin implementing the Defense Department's new interim policies and stop publishing several types of content. It also declares that the publication's content "must be consistent with good order and discipline," which is a phrase used in military justice.

Stars and Stripes editor-in-chief Erik Slavin told NPR on Saturday that this phrase makes him particularly concerned for his staff reporters who are members of the U.S. military, and who thus can be court-martialed for violations of its uniform code of military justice. "If they were to complete a story that the Defense Department did not like, and did not find 'consistent with good order and discipline,' would they be in legal jeopardy?" Slavin said. "We don't know the answer to that."

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2026/03/14/nx-s1-5748020/pentagon-tightens-controls-over-stars-and-stripes-after-calling-it-woke