Independence Day at Stars and Stripes

Editors and reporters at Stars and Stripes newspaper are taking on their overseers at the Pentagon, the New York Times reports today. At issue is funding for a publicity program called America Supports You that apparently was funded through the paper.

The paper's two top editors are seeking the release of more details on the contracting arrangement. “This is not how an editorially independent newspaper should conduct itself,” executive editor Robb Grindstaff and managing editor Doug Clawson wrote in a letter to the paper's publisher and the Pentagon official who oversees its operations.

Stars and Stripes occupies an unusual position in that by statute it is deemed to be editorially independent of the Defense Department, but it is owned and partially financed by the Pentagon.