Three Stars and Stripes reporters sued the Trump administration on Thursday over efforts to fire them from the Pentagon-owned newspaper. File Photo by Sgt. Brendan Mackie/U.S. Army National Guard/UPI
Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Three journalists at the Pentagon-owned Stars and Stripes sued the Trump administration on Thursday, alleging efforts to fire them for publicly defending the military newspaper's longstanding editorial independence violate their First Amendment rights.
Stars and Stripes publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin and reporter Lara Korte were notified Aug. 21 that they would be dismissed for insubordination, Slavin and Korte for speaking publicly in support of their newspaper's journalistic independence and Lederer for refusing to firing at them the direction the Department of Defense.
Their firings were to take effect Friday, five business days after they received the separation notices. But they are asking the court to halt their dismissals.
"The Pentagon is trying to punish journalists for defending the established mission of Stars and Stripes," Taryn Wilgus Null, senior counsel at Democracy Defenders Fund, which filed the lawsuit, said in a statement.
