CRUCIAL QUOTE
“I consider it a great privilege to live alongside members of the military and share their stories,” Korte said. “It’s a shame for the institution and service members, who swore to defend the Constitution and deserve the right to a free and independent press.”
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KEY BACKGROUND
Stars and Stripes has been a newspaper for more than 100 years and is operated as an independent news organization for U.S. service members, though it functions under a hybrid model tied to the Department of Defense. Roughly half to 65% of the organization’s budget comes from taxpayers via the Department of Defense, and the rest comes from commercial revenue streams like subscriptions and advertisements. Staff members are formally counted as defense department or government employees. In theory, the paper maintains its independence through a 1994 congressional framework and First Amendment protections safeguarded by Congress. Its mission that news reporting remain free of chain-of-command approval, but the Pentagon earlier this year rescinded a regulation requiring “a free flow of news and information to its readership without news management or censorship.” At the time, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the paper must “refocus its content away from woke distractions” and, months later, banned the paper from running comics or articles from The Associated Press news wire, according to the Times.
SURPRISING FACT
The Pentagon hasn’t held a press conference since May, despite being involved in a high profile war in the Middle East that has been blamed for rising American gas prices and growing concerns over regional stability and U.S. military involvement abroad. The Pentagon in October attempted to enforce a strict media policy that would only allow outlets to report information officially authorised by the DoD, but major news outlets like the Times, Washington Post and CNN refused to comply. A federal judge later blocked the restrictions.
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BIG NUMBER
1.4 million. That’s the daily number of readers and visitors to Stars and Stripes, according to the publication.
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further reading
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