The Pentagon barred its own military news publication, Stars and Stripes, from atttending Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s press conference on Thursday, claiming there was no room.
Stars and Stripes Pentagon reporter Matthew Adams told followers on X Thursday that the publication “was not approved by the Pentagon to attend this press conference.”
“Seems a bit odd since the Pentagon published a memo with changes to the newspaper, including content overhaul,” Adams wrote, noting how, earlier this month, the Pentagon sent out an eight-page memo detailing plans to “modernize” the outlet.
Former Stars and Stripes reporter Kevin Baron slammed the Pentagon, writing that it had “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,” Baron said.
A Pentagon spokesperson told JS Thursday that it could not accommodate Adams at the press briefing.
“While Stars and Stripes remains welcome at our press briefings, we cannot accommodate every request to attend,” the spokesperson said. “There are only 60 seats available for journalists to occupy. Every seat in the room had one representative per outlet. Stars and Stripes was one of 11 outlets that we could not accommodate due to space.”
The Pentagon’s changes to Stars and Stripes that Adams mentioned in his post allegedly allow the newspaper to “operate with editorial independence,” but stipulate that its content “must be consistent with good order and discipline.”
Stars and Stripes editor-in-chief Erik Slavin told NPR earlier this month that the Pentagon’s phrasing is concerning for his reporters, who are members of the U.S. military and can face court-martial for the content they publish.
“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 asked. “We don’t know the answer to that.”
