Slavin attributes dismissal to interview about potential military censorship
Stars and Stripes editor-in-chief Erik Slavin told The Associated Press on Friday that the Pentagon fired him for insubordination following an interview in which he objected to potential censorship by the U.S. military.
Slavin said the dismissals also included the military newspaper’s publisher and a reporter. He and the others received notices of separation, according to the AP. The wire service, in a report by Jocelyn Noveck, did not name the publisher or the reporter and did not specify which statements from Slavin’s interview prompted the dismissal finding.
Stars and Stripes is a military newspaper partly funded by the Pentagon but with a long legacy of editorial independence, the AP reported.
The dismissals come as the Trump administration, in its second term, has moved aggressively against the news media, according to the AP. The administration has been “increasingly aggressive and combative toward the news media,” the wire service reported. Within the Pentagon specifically, the administration has sharply curtailed access for the press corps that covers the Defense Department, the AP said.
Beyond the Pentagon, the administration or other parts of the executive branch have engaged in policy disputes and litigation with The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press, and The New York Times, according to the AP. The Federal Communications Commission has also been used against broadcast networks, according to the AP.