Ian Brickey: 202-675-6270, ian.brickey@sierraclub.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- This week, a memo came to light detailing the Pentagon’s shuttering of the Stars and Stripes military newspaper effective by September 30. The Pentagon’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2021 slashed the $15.5 million in federal funding for the newspaper. Stars and Stripes has provided objective news coverage for servicemembers since the Civil War. Its reporters have covered the Trump administration’s closing of a military task force investigating climate change as a national security issue and the widespread PFAS contamination on U.S. military bases. The newspaper’s closing is the administration’s latest attack on government-funded objective journalism. Trump’s disdain for military service is well-known, including a report in The Atlantic that he referred to soldiers wounded or killed in combat as “losers.” During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump mocked Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war, and lashed out at the Khan family, whose son was killed during the Iraq War.
In response, Sierra Club Military Outdoors campaign manager Rob Vessels released the following statement:
“Stars and Stripes has served the interests of men and women in uniform for more than a century. While President Trump called climate change a hoax, Stars and Stripes reported on it as a national security threat, and while he called wounded soldiers ‘losers,’ Stars and Stripes broke stories about billions of dollars of pollution on military bases.
“This decision is the latest attack on American institutions from an administration that has sought to dismantle our national monuments and sell off our public lands to the highest bidder.
“Closing Stars and Stripes shows President Trump considers objective journalism to be dissent, and anything less than praise to be a personal attack. That Stars and Stripes could cover the fight against slavery in the Civil War and against fascism in World War II but not the presidency of Donald Trump is a real tragedy."
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.