With Stars and Stripes, the Pentagon Broke It’s Own Rules

The following excerpt comes from Section 4, Part 246 of the Code of Federal Regulations. That’s the book of all the rules published by the U.S. government’s executive departments and agencies. 

A week or so after the Pentagons’ attempted firings of Stars and Stripes publisher Max D. Lederer Jr., editor-in-Chief Erik Slavin and reporter Lara Korte following the publication of an article documenting mental health concerns aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, we feel it’s worth the read: 

It is DoD policy that:

(a) The U.S. European Command and the U.S. Pacific Command are authorized to publish the Stars and Stripes and provide support to the S&S. The Unified Command component commanders and their public affairs staffs shall provide the Stars and Stripes editorial staffs the same help provided to commercial newspapers, in compliance with the principles governing the release of information to media in 32 CFR part 375.

(b) Editorial policies and practices of the Stars and Stripes shall be in accordance with journalistic standards governing U.S. daily commercial newspapers of the highest quality, with emphasis on matters of interest to the Stars and Stripes readership. Except as provided in paragraph (e) of this section, the DoD policy for the Stars and Stripes is that there shall be a free flow of news and information to its readership without news management or censorship. The calculated withholding of unfavorable news is prohibited [emphasis added]. 

The executive’s own rule speaks for itself.