Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) is criticizing the Pentagon's response to concerns that the military newspaper Stars and Stripes will be subject to censorship and become a propaganda outlet.
In April, Sen. Gallego raised the alarm by spearheading a letter signed by multiple lawmakers about various news impositions on the paper.
In March, new provisions were issued that would allow political appointees greater oversight of the paper, restrict reporters, and tighten the allowance for civilian editors to contract live wire service news stories of interest to servicemembers unless approved by appointees.
Additionally, the new rules call for the reprinting of War Department press material and routing Ombudsman reports (independent oversight) to Congress through the Department's legislative affairs staff.
The Pentagon has since responded to Sen. Gallego's letter, commenting, "Stripes will remain editorially independent of the military chain of command, military public affairs activities, or other external influences, and without censorship or propaganda."
However, the Pentagon's reply also suggested that the paper's First Amendment protections are "unnecessary."
Gallego claims the Pentagon "dodged questions about whether it has withheld articles from publication at Stripes" by saying, "The language concerning good order and discipline has not led to any Stripes articles being withheld from publication."
"I relied on Stars and Stripes when I was in Iraq for honest, credible reporting about our military instead of politicized garbage," Gallego said in a statement. "While Trump continues to dig us into his war in Iran and all signs point to him starting more wars in Latin America, it is more important than ever that Stars and Stripes has the editorial independence to report on what is actually happening on the ground."
He concluded, "The Pentagon's response fails to make that clear. They want to turn it into another megaphone for this administration's propaganda."
