MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The Pentagon says it will take editorial control of Stars and Stripes, a newspaper that has covered the U.S. military since the Civil War. A congressional mandate protects the paper's editorial independence, but the Trump administration says Stars and Stripes will no longer cover, quote, "woke distractions." For more on this, we have the editor in chief of Stars and Stripes on the line. That's Erik Slavin. Good morning. Thanks so much for joining us.
ERIK SLAVIN: Good morning. Thank you for having me.
MARTIN: So I understand that you heard about this on social media like everybody else, so you might not know. But when the administration says Stars and Stripes will no longer cover woke distractions, what are they talking about?
SLAVIN: We would like to know. As you said, we found out about this on social media and from a subsequent story in the Daily Wire. And we haven't had the chance to sit down with the administration regarding their concerns, but we certainly would welcome that.
MARTIN: And so nobody's reached out to you, and you've tried - I assume you've tried to reach them and nobody's responded.
SLAVIN: Yes. We've had our reporters reach out in our reporting of the story, as we would any other story, and we were referred to the social media statement.
MARTIN: What does the public lose? What does the military lose and what does the public lose if Stars and Stripes is no longer an independent news organization? I have to tell you, I read Stars and Stripes.
SLAVIN: Well, you know, it's our feeling that the people who swear to defend the Constitution should have the right to its benefits, and that includes a free and independent press. An independent press can do things that public relations - while there's certainly an important role for that - cannot. It boosts morale, even when that news isn't necessarily wonderful. And we do write stories when people have done great and heroic things, but we also pursue stories when things are not going according to plan. And when you have news that matches service members' lived experience, you validate what they're seeing, and sometimes that can lead to changes that are beneficial for them.
MARTIN: And give an example of some of the important reporting that the publication has done.
SLAVIN: Well, I can think of one story where there was a very short story posted by the military - a release about the death of a sailor who fell overboard in the Baltic Sea a few years ago. Our reporter spent about two years staying on that story. And we found out, for example - and Dee Spearman was his name - that he had fainted four separate times, including twice at the helm of the ship. And he was left alone to work at the top deck, and the safety issues were there that weren't necessarily keeping him where he should have been. And he fell overboard and he died. After letting people know about that, that was something that got to Congress and we would hope would lead to some change.
MARTIN: So what are you going to do?
SLAVIN: Well, we are going to await some further word from the Pentagon, try to have a constructive conversation. And in the meantime, we're going to continue to provide fair and accurate and balanced news to the military community 'cause that's really all we know how to do.
MARTIN: Are editors and reporters considering resigning?
SLAVIN: No one has approached me saying that they want to resign at this point. Of course, they're concerned. I can't blame them for that. But at this point, we're sticking together, and we're waiting to see what comes next.
MARTIN: I mean, people who perhaps don't follow this as closely as others do - I mean, I can think of important reporting around issues around harassment - sexual harassment and other forms of harassment, around hazing, for example, problems with military housing, COVID patient deaths inside the VA. So if - what do you do if you come across such a story now and the Pentagon throws up roadblocks to publication? What are you going to do?
SLAVIN: We are going to continue to pursue these stories because we think they're important. You know, as you said, you know, we did a story recently about housing in Poland and the expense that costs for service members. We're going to keep doing those kinds of stories because nobody else will.
MARTIN: And briefly, have you heard from anybody in Congress? I mentioned that there is a mandate for editorial independence. Have you heard from anybody in Congress about this?
SLAVIN: Yes. We did see a letter signed by about eight or nine senators, and we'll see who else joins. In 2020, when there was a threat to us, there was a bipartisan effort. And ultimately, the president agreed that Stars and Stripes should continue to exist in its form. So we'll see.
MARTIN: That's Erik Slavin, editor in chief of Stars and Stripes. Mr. Slavin, thanks.
SLAVIN: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
