Trump shutting down newspaper "Stars And Stripes" after 159 Years

[Syt]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2020/09/04/trump-shutting-down-159-year-old-stars-and-stripes-newspaper-for-troops/#4a260bea4525

Trump Shutting Down 159-Year-Old Stars And Stripes, Newspaper For Troops

The Pentagon sent a memo ordering Stars and Stripes, a newspaper for American troops that dates back to the Civil War and is funded by Congress, to begin preparations to "dissolve" by September 15, in what amounts to the latest attack by President Trump's administration on the free press.

The memo, which was first reported in an opinion piece by USA Today, orders the publicist of the paper to draft a plan that "dissolves the Stars and Stripes" by Sept. 15, and offers a "specific timeline for vacating government owned/leased space worldwide."

The newspaper — which had a circulation of 7 million in 2019 — operates inside the Department of Defense, but is editorially independent and delivered daily to troops on the front line, who sometimes don't have access to quality internet service (the paper also operates online.)

The Pentagon's 2021 fiscal year budget, released in February, included a proposal to cut the $15.5 million in funding allocated for Stars and Stripes; Defense Secretary Mark Esper called the move an effort to reallocate the money, which represents a fraction of the military's $705 billion budget, "into higher-priority issues."

A bipartisan group of senators have rebuked the proposal, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who sent a letter to the Pentagon last week calling to reinstate the funding.

The House included funding for the newspaper in an appropriations bill it passed this year, but the Senate has yet to act.

Ernie Gates, Stars and Stripes' ombudsman, called the administration's efforts to shut down the newspaper a "fatal interference and permanent censorship of a unique First Amendment organization," in a statement to Forbes. 

WHAT TO WATCH FOR
Gates said there's "every reason" to expect that the federal government will operate under 2020's budget when the fiscal year ends on September 30, and called on Esper to "commit to continuing to fund Stars and Stripes under such a scenario" and Congress to pass a budget that makes "Stars and Stripes' funding ironclad."

CHIEF CRITIC
"As a veteran who has served overseas, I know the value that the Stars and Stripes brings to its readers," Graham said in a letter to Esper, criticizing the plan to defund Stars and Stripes.

TANGENT
The Pentagon's move comes after NPR reported this week the Trump administration appointee to Voice of America, Michael Pack, had sought to exert "political influence" over the organization's news coverage, which is tasked with providing nonpartisan media coverage in countries across the globe.

KEY BACKGROUND
Stars and Stripes was founded during the Civil War in 1861 by soldiers who set up camp in Missouri only to find there was no newspaper available. Since then, the paper has launched the careers of several famed reporters, and broken big stories. In 2010, the paper won the George Polk Award for its reporting on the public relations firm that the Defense Department used to push reporters to write favorably about the war in Afghanistan. In 2015, Stars and Stripes broke the story that NBC News anchor Brian Williams exaggerated his story about reporting in Iraq.

SURPRISING FACT
On Thursday, multiple outlets reported Trump had said disparaging comments about veterans in the past, including calling those who died "losers" and "suckers." Trump denied the report.

[Grey Fox]

Considering the timeline, it's a 4 months break?

[Valmy]

Considering the timeline, it's a 4 months break?

Well here is hoping.

[The Brain]

There are still no newspapers in Missouri.

[Admiral Yi]

The Stars and Stripes was my daily newspaper growing up.

[Sheilbh]

U-turn by Tweet:

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
The United States of America will NOT be cutting funding to @starsandstripes magazine under my watch. It will continue to be a wonderful source of information to our Great Military!

[Habbaku]

  And now he swoops in to pretend he's the savior.

[Josquius]

Tomorrow's headline : Biden will shut down stars and stripes. Only our mighty saviour trump can stop him?

[Josephus]

Not a good year for newspapers

[Tonitrus]

He'll probably just USPS it now.  Put a flunky in charge, kill its editorial independence, and make it like OAN.