Ousted Stars and Stripes publisher warns of rising attacks on press freedoms

Max Lederer, the embattled former publisher of Stars and Stripes, may be having one of the most stressful retirements imaginable — locked in a legal battle with the Pentagon. 

After three decades with the U.S. military publication, Lederer and two former colleagues have mounted a lawsuit arguing their First Amendment rights have been violated after they were fired. Insubordination was purportedly the rationale for their dismissals.

With a holiday already planned for Japan, Lederer, who received his notice of termination last Tuesday, instead packed formal attire and added a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan to his schedule. There, the former lawyer voiced a defense for media freedom in the U.S. and internationally. 

“I have a moment in time and I’m going to use my voice for this moment in time,” he told The Japan Times in an interview in Tokyo.

Since World War II, Stars and Stripes has played an important role as a news source for U.S. personnel and their families. Despite being partly funded by the Defense Department, it is designed to be editorially independent. In the 1990s, this was formalized with the introduction of an ombudsman tasked with overseeing editorial independence. 

U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth salute during a dignified transfer for soldiers killed amid the conflict with Iran at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on July 22. | Kenny Holston / The New York Times

But under the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, a shift has occurred. In January, Sean Parnell, a senior Pentagon public affairs official, posted on X that the Defense Department “is returning Stars & Stripes to its original mission: reporting for our warfighters. We are bringing Stars & Stripes into the 21st century.” 

Lederer said it made him “very concerned,” but at this stage he decided to continue to “work within the system,” and minimize any potential impact this might have on the paper and the reporters working there.

Then in April the Pentagon fired the paper’s ombudsman, Jacqueline Smith, after she voiced criticism of the Defense Department’s decision to prohibit the paper’s use of cartoons and syndicated news stories.

By the time Lederer was instructed to fire two of his colleagues — Editor-in-Chief Erik Slavin and Middle East reporter Lara Korte, for voicing their concern about the independence of the publication during an interview with CBS News — the writing was on the wall, and he chose to step down from his position as publisher. Shortly after, he received a notification of his termination.

Lederer sees what has occurred at the paper as emblematic of a larger battle for media freedom. 

“Independent journalism is really, really valuable. … It’s under attack everywhere, not just in the United States, but to have it attacked the way it is in the United States right now is particularly disturbing because as a country we have been the leader of protecting other journalists and furthering free press.”

A U.S. soldier reads an edition of the Stars and Stripes newspaper while in Baghdad's Green Zone in October 2007. | U.S. Army National Guard

The paper’s future at this stage remains unclear. 

Lederer said that military personnel and their families are not the only ones who will be dealt a blow if Stars and Stripes’ reporting is gagged. That reporting is a valuable source of information about troops stationed in host countries, including Japan. 

More than 50,000 U.S. military personnel are stationed in Japan. In Okinawa Prefecture alone, there are around 30,000 active personnel, as well as tens of thousands of family members and base workers. Many Japanese workers’ livelihoods depend on the U.S. base economy.

“For example, you’re the local restaurant outside the gate, and you rely on that U.S. customer coming out and buying lunch, buying dinner … if the U.S. military is planning to have two thirds of that base leave and go to Iran for an indefinite period of time, that’s going to destroy your business,” Lederer said.

“We’re there helping the communities understand what’s going on inside the wire … (for) the average restaurant owner, the average worker who’s going on base because they’re employed as a cleaning worker, knowing whether their job is going to be there or not,” he added.

“It’s part of the Japanese-American relationship — we are part of that relationship.” 

Michael Ryan, chief of staff for Stars and Stripes Pacific, shows the first copy of the newspaper that was printed in Japan in 1945 while inside an archive at the Akasaka Press Center in Tokyo in July 2022. | U.S. Army

The paper has also reported on issues with safety implications such as the detection of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, toxic “forever chemicals,” near U.S. bases, as well as the first deployments for training of U.S. long-range missile launchers in Japan, a move that critics say paints a target on the areas hosting the weapons.

While this type of reporting is important for local communities, Lederer said, other countries, including Japan, have ultimately not sought to emulate the paper, viewing it as potentially inviting unnecessary criticism.

When the former publisher met with Defense Ministry officials in Tokyo over the years, he said the focus had been on managing their message and “how they deal” with the media, including through social media influencers. 

“They’re not comfortable with how U.S. media deals with public officials.”

But this also speaks to a challenge faced by Japan’s media in general, in which access to government officials is often limited and controlled. Echoing other politicians — most famously Trump — Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has bypassed traditional media and instead used social media as a key way to get her message out.

U.S. soldiers hold up the Stars and Stripes newspaper in celebration of the end of World War II in Europe on May 8, 1945. | U.S. Army

Lederer said this approach is a reflection of a shift occurring across the globe, one where politicians and officials have decided that they can “tell the story themselves.” 

While the U.S. was once viewed as the gold standard for a free and open press integral to a functioning democracy, a decline in press freedom there has had knock-on effects for the rest of the world. 

“Everybody’s watching,” Lederer said.

Although the legal battle for Stars and Stripes might only just be beginning, Lederer encourages those concerned about press freedom not to leave the fight for the courts, and to take action themselves.

“It’s important that your readers understand what’s going on,” he said. “If this disturbs them, then they need to use their voice whatever way they can … if they’re a U.S. citizen writing congressmen or senators, whether it’s talking to their own representatives here. … Using their voice is important. If people don’t talk, if people don’t stand up, then we all get harmed.”