The Pentagon has fired the editor-in-chief of Stars and Stripes, the US military newspaper, for what it described as insubordination. It has also removed the newspaper’s long-serving publisher and a reporter, raising fresh concerns about editorial independence at the publication.
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Erik Slavin, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, said on Friday that he was dismissed after publicly warning that any attempt to censor news reaching US service members would cross a personal red line.
“According to the notice, I am being fired for stating in a CBS interview that hypothetical censorship of news for service members would constitute a personal red line,” Slavin said in a statement.
A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that the Pentagon had sent notices to the newspaper’s leadership informing them they would be removed. The source was not authorised to speak publicly.
