Lawsuit seeks to protect Stars and Stripes from Hegseth’s control
A lawsuit seeks to stop the Pentagon from taking over Stars and Stripes and restoring its editorial independence.Summary
The lawsuit, filed by Pulitzer Prize‑winning journalists Susan Dardarian and William Church in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenges a Pentagon memo and action that repealed historic regulations guaranteeing Stars and Stripes’ editorial freedom. The plaintiffs argue the Department of Defense’s unilateral move—announced in January to shift the publication’s focus to warfighting topics and to eliminate commercial news sources—violates the Administrative Procedures Act and the First Amendment by censoring the press and depriving military readers of independent news. They seek to vacate the DoD’s actions to preserve the newspaper’s long‑standing independence, which they say is vital for the military community’s access to credible information.
(Source：Baptist News Global)