Reporting on diversity issues in the news business
ArticlesFeature

Fired Stars and Stripes Journos Sue Pentagon

by richard086 views · 0 today

​Lawsuit Cast as Bid to Keep ‘Propaganda-Free News’:
NABJ Leader Links Attiah Case, Black Journalists’ Plight
BET Launches ‘Community Reporting Initiative’
700 Academics Defend Accuser of Tormented Black Prof
Jose Suarez, Telemundo Exec, Dies in Kenya Copter Crash

Short Takes: Kansas City Call; Associated Press layoffs; anniversary of Israeli air strikes fatal to journalists; job losses resulting from Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger; FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s White House ties; incarcerated men setting themselves afire; Emmanuel Felton undercuts Supreme Court premise; Abby Phillip; Don Lemon; when the Klan marched in Oregon;

“Roots” 50th anniversary; Cathy Hughes; Ruben Salalzar; Roberta F. Rodrigues; Sharyn Flanagan; Ruby Bailey; Derrick Z. Jackson; Jamelle Bouie; Bomani Jones, Howard Bryant and Colin Kaepernick; journalist who became a doula; deadline for entries for $25,000 prize; lawsuit challenges cuts to visas for foreign journalists; Mexico’s “hostile journalists” list; DRC rebels ban political reporting; 44th Annual Parker Lecture & Awards Ceremony

Journal-isms for today continues here

Homepage photo: Sean Parnell, senior adviser to the secretary of defense; Stars and Stripes. Credit: Fox News

Three journalists from Stars and Stripes say they were abruptly fired by the Pentagon for “insubordination” following an interview with CBS News. Lara Korte, one of the fired journalists, joins Peter Alexander to speak out. (Credit: MS NOW/YouTube)

Lawsuit Cast as Bid to Keep ‘Propaganda-Free News’

“The Pentagon’s firing last week of three employees of the newspaper Stars and Stripes was done out of retaliation over unflattering coverage of a Navy deployment and in violation of the protected right to free speech, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in Washington,” Rose L. Thayer reported for the publication.

“Erik Slavin (pictured), the editor in chief; Lara Korte, the paper’s Middle East reporter; and Max D. Lederer Jr., the publisher, filed the 45-page lawsuit against chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, the Defense Department, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and another public affairs official, Andrew Brey. It asks the court to halt their terminations as unlawful and seeks an immediate restraining order.”

The Pentagon agreed to hold off firing the three journalists through next Friday to allow their court challenge to be argued, Politico’s Josh Gerstein reported Friday on X.

The journalists’ lawyers said in a statement, “The firings were initiated the day after Stars and Stripes broke the story about the dire conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier.”

After a CBS interview, “the Pentagon’s concerns shifted from the substance of Stars and Stripes’ reporting to the loyalty of its leadership. A July performance review written by Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell accused senior staff of ‘open rebellion’ and said, ‘the most important element of the performance plan is the faithful administration of POTUS policies.’ The lawsuit cites this language as evidence that political compliance was being demanded from an independent newsroom.

“That pressure escalated after Stars and Stripes published critical reporting on conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on Aug. 11. The next day, Pentagon officials directed publisher Max Lederer to begin the process of firing Slavin and Korte over their earlier CBS comments. Lederer questioned the legal basis for the actions and refused to carry them out, setting up his own confrontation with Pentagon leadership. On Aug. 21, DoD issued proposed separation notices to all three plaintiffs.”

Thayer’s report continued, “ ‘Our goal is to protect the rights of service members and their families to a free and independent press,’ the three said in a statement.

“ ‘Stars and Stripes has served them for generations, and that independence is essential to keeping military communities fully and accurately informed. This lawsuit is about safeguarding that mission and ensuring our civilian and military journalists can do their jobs without retaliation.’

“The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“The legal team representing the journalists is the same that represents employees of Voice of America, another government-owned news outlet that the Trump Administration has attempted to shut down. Both have mandates to give propaganda-free news, said David Seide, an attorney on the case with the Government Accountability Project.

“Voice of America employees have two lawsuits ongoing against the government — one regarding their employment and the other about violations to its First Amendment protections. ‘Enough is enough,’ Seide said in a statement about the Stripes lawsuit. “It’s a sad day when independent journalists are punished just for saying they are not tools to promote government propaganda. Our lawsuit seeks to right that wrong.”

“Slavin, Korte and Lederer received notice last Friday charging insubordination. Stars and Stripes is an independent newspaper owned by the Defense Department. Its employees are federal workers but operate the paper as a commercial news organization. Paperwork for Slavin and Korte cited a CBS News interview that was broadcast in July. Each discussed the First Amendment principles that guided their work at the newspaper, which has been in continuous circulation since World War II. . . .”

Read the complaint

Karen Attiah praises the News Guild after her arbitration victory this week. (Credit: Facebook)

If no image appears, please consider using another browser.

“Black journalists have always been at the forefront of the fight in another mission — advancing newsroom diversity,” Errin Haines, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, and Phil Lewis, president of the Washington Association of Black Journalists, wrote Thursday for The Root.

“So when an arbitrator ordered this week that Karen Attiah, the former global opinion editor for the Washington Post and the newspaper’s last full-time Black woman opinion writer, should be rehired after she was fired over her social media posts about the assassination of conservative provocateur Charlie Kirk, it was a victory not only for Attiah, but for everyone fighting for diversity in newsrooms.

“Black journalists understand, perhaps better than anyone, why it matters who gets to tell our stories. This decision matters because editors like Attiah help ensure our stories are assigned, produced, reported on and published.

“Only a handful of Black men, like Leroy Chapman Jr. at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Andale Gross at the Kansas City Star, are leading large daily newspapers. Monica Richardson is the senior vice president of USA TODAY. Kimbriell Kelly is editor-in-chief of Chicago Public Media, Shawna Thomas and Averi Harper are political directors at MS NOW and ABC News, respectively. But there are no Black men or women serving as the top editor or news executive at any major national newsroom, a stark difference from the height of the so-called racial reckoning of the early 2020s.

“And that difference is palpable. . . .”

Separately, the D.C. professional chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists noted Wednesday that Attiah was its 2026 Distinguished Service Award winner and said, “A free press depends on protecting journalists’ ability to do their work and speak openly without fear of arbitrary retaliation.”

BET Launches ‘Community Reporting Initiative’

“Following the launch of a reimagined, video-first BET.com, BET Digital today announced the launch of its Community Reporting Initiative, a national program designed to create new opportunities for multimedia journalists to report important and meaningful stories across the United States,” the network announced Aug. 19.

“The initiative will recruit local journalists to produce original video and multimedia reporting that highlights the people, issues, and cultural movements impacting their communities. Through on-the-ground coverage, the program aims to amplify voices, perspectives, and stories increasingly missing from traditional national media coverage.

“The BET Community Reporting Initiative builds on BET’s newly reimagined approach to BET.com and BET News. Moving beyond the traditional standalone-publisher model, BET.com now serves as a video-first experience that connects audiences to BET content wherever it lives, including YouTube, social platforms, Paramount+ and BET. The initiative is also an extension of the BET Creator Studio, BET’s digital-first platform that gives creators the infrastructure and distribution power of the BET brand, now applied to journalism. Interested journalists can apply at www.betcreatorstudio.com. . . .

“Yesha Callahan (pictured, above), Head of Editorial for BET Digital, developed the program with Jason Samuels (pictured, below), an NYU professor and broadcast news veteran who serves as a consultant for BET News.” Other participating journalists are Fallon Brannon, Brandi Hunter, Larry Spruill Jr., Bre Teamer, Sydney Bellamy, Jonathan Giles and Sabinna Pierre.

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Trafalgar Square Aug. 18 to pay tribute to the late University of Cambridge professor Jason Arday. (Credit: The Guardian/YouTube)

700 Academics Back Accuser of Tormented Black Prof

More than 700 academics have signed an open letter calling on Ghent University in Belgium to protect from punishment Nathan Cofnas, the postdoctoral researcher and self-described “race realist” who accused the late Cambridge professor Jason Arday of plagiarizing parts of his Ph.D. thesis, Emma Whitford reported Tuesday for Inside Higher Ed.

Confas “is known for work suggesting that Black people are genetically predisposed to be less intelligent than white people,” as Leo Sands reported Aug. 20 for the New York Times.

“Last month, he wrote about Dr. Arday, who was Black, in a newsletter, accusing him of plagiarism in his doctoral dissertation. The post ignited a public firestorm that dominated British newspaper headlines and prompted new allegations that he had fabricated parts of his life story. Dr. Arday resigned his position at Cambridge early this month, and last week was found dead.”

“His death is catalysing an important conversation in the UK and beyond about representation, race and professional gatekeeping, as South Africa’s Daily Maverick put it. Not to mention accusations of excessive and racist media coverage.

“Jason Arday Faced 30 Stories in 12 Days from 15 U.S. Media Outlets. A White Colleague Accused of More Serious Misconduct Faced None,” read a headline over an Aug 19 piece by Ibram X. Kendi, the anti-racist author and editor of The Emancipator.

“In 2021, a former student of University of Cambridge history professor William O’Reilly accused him of plagiarism. The student noticed his prose comprised nearly half of O’Reilly’s article in the Journal of Austrian-American History published in 2018.

“O’Reilly claimed he ‘accidentally’ copied around 4,000 words from two essays by this student without any citation.

“In 2023, a university tribunal found O’Reilly had plagiarized his former student. The journal retracted the article, stating its information ‘was presented without credit.’ But the university tribunal seemingly believed O’Reilly’s explanation. . . .

“In total, we found that the 15 U.S. media outlets published a total of at least 65 pieces about Arday between Aug. 3 and 9 a.m. on Aug. 18. Again, we found zero pieces in these U.S. outlets on his former colleague, William O’Reilly, who remains a professor at Cambridge.”

If no image is visible, please consider changing browsers.

Jose Suarez, Telemundo Exec, Dies in Kenya Copter Crash

​José Alberto Suárez, a Telemundo executive, died in a Aug. 19 helicopter crash in Kenya,  Andrea Flores reported for the De Los section of the Los Angeles Times. Funeral arrangements have yet to be announced, Telemundo spokespersons said Friday.

​”The 55-year-old — who was president and general manager of Telemundo 31, Telemundo 49 and Telemundo Ft. Myers-Naples — was among the seven deceased following an aircraft incident at Mt. Ololokwe, that took place at about 9:13 AM​,” Flores wrote.

“The Kenyan Civil Aviation Authority shared on X that the group left Loisaba to travel to Ewasonyiro on a Eurocopter, EC130 B4, operated by the charter service company Lady Lori Helicopters. Guests on board were said to be part of a luxury safari tour by travel agency andBeyond. . . .

“Over the course of his 20-plus years with NBCU Local and NBCU News Group, Suárez led stations in San Antonio, Sacramento, Fresno, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. Earlier in his career — inspired by Cuban American journalist Jose Diaz-Balart — he served in programming, digital and creative leadership for Telemundo Station Group, NBC6 and Telemundo 51 in Miami. . . .

Some of Suárez’s colleagues took to social media to pay homage to the storyteller, including Elizabeth Chavolla, a bilingual multiplatform producer for NBC4 and Telemundo 52 Los Angeles, who uploaded a picture of the two on Instagram.

“I will always remember your kindness, professionalism, sense of humor and words of encouragement,” said Chavolla in an Instagram post. “You always knew how to make people smile, lift their spirits and remind them that everything was going to be okay.”

Short Takes

  • Jason Joseph, an owner of the Kansas City Call, part of the Black press, said paper would not shut down, despite having missed an edition. “Three weeks ago, I nearly lost my life,” Joseph wrote. “I was hospitalized and am still recovering. The paper missed a week because the publisher nearly missed the rest of his life.”
  • “The Associated Press will lay off 20 video production staff in the U.S. on Friday and move those jobs to a new hub in India, according to the union representing those journalists,” Angela Fu reported Au. 20 for the Poynter Institute. “An additional 10 photo editors in the U.S. and 10 video production staff in London are being targeted for layoffs, though it is unclear when their jobs would be terminated. . . . “

“In every corner of the now-scuttled 6th District, Black residents tell of deep connections through Louisiana history, food, and today’s struggles. But this spring, the nation’s highest court concluded that those voters share only race, not a cohesive culture,” Emmanuel Felton (pictured), the Washington Post’s race and ethnicity reporter from 2021 until last February, wrote Monday for the Lens NOLA. “To understand District 6, Felton and photographer Gus Bennett drove 250 miles through the heart of the district, talking to people all along the way. This is the first story in a four-part series,” the editors told readers. “In its ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, the court held that the Black voters of Louisiana’s new 6th Congressional District were not a community the law could recognize — that what they shared was their race, and not much else. That was not enough to draw them a district of their own, the justices concluded. But the court did not see layered histories within the narrow, snake-shaped district carved into the center of the state,” Felton wrote.

  “CNN recently struck a new deal with Abby Phillip (pictured), anchor of the raucous 10 p.m. roundtable ‘NewsNight,’ that keeps all three of the anchors who host its primetime shows at the news giant for the foreseeable future, according to three people familiar with the matter,” Brian Steinberg reported Aug. 17 for Variety.

Ashland, Oregon, in 1920. Oregon Historical Society photo

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser recently presented media mogul and Urban One founder Cathy Hughes (pictured) with the key to the city. WRC-TV, the NBC owned and operated station in the nation’s capital, reported “News4’s Shawn Yancy spoke with Hughes, who built the largest Black-owned multimedia company in the nation.” [On Saturday, the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Md., published an interview of Hughes by columnist and part-owner Armstrong Williams.]

 

Fifty-six years ago Saturday, journalist Ruben Salazar (pictured) was killed while covering the National Chicano Moratorium March in East Los Angeles, reporting on the community he came from and knew best, says the Fallen Journalists Memorial project. “Salazar had left a prestigious career as a foreign correspondent to tell the stories of Mexican Americans in his own city, and his coverage gave the Chicano Movement a voice in mainstream media. Decades later, his legacy inspires the next generation of journalists to report fearlessly on the issues that hit closest to home.” Read more of his story here.

“WNBA reporter Roberta F. Rodrigues (pictured), who covers the league as a contributor for Forbes, announced her intentions to take a ‘small, temporary break‘ from women’s basketball coverage over the coming weeks in a post on social media,”   Tyler Lauletta reported Friday for Awful Announcing. “While explaining her decision, Rodrigues cited the current tenor of conversation around the league, as well as harassment she has received from people in response to her coverage. . . .”

“Ruby L. Bailey (pictured), a nonprofit and journalism leader with more than three decades of experience in public-service media, is joining Injustice Watch as its new executive director on Sept. 1,” the organization announced on Aug. 21. “Bailey joins the team after two and a half years as the editor in chief of the Illinois Answers Project at the Better Government Association. . . . Her career includes leadership roles at USA TODAY, The Indianapolis Star, The Sacramento Bee, the Columbia Missourian, and the Detroit Free Press. Before moving into senior leadership, Bailey spent seven years as a Washington correspondent, embedded with the U.S. Navy during Operation Iraqi Freedom, and throughout her reporting career produced award-winning enterprise and accountability journalism, including work nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.”

    • Boston journalist Derrick Z. Jackson won a President’s Choice Award and a first place for photography (pictured) for “Haddock Hall II” for the Union of Concerned Scientists at the Outdoor Writers Association of America conference in Madison, Wis., as well as first place in the blog category, conservation or nature, for “Protecting Puffins in Maine Is an Emotional Commitment.” Jackson was also named to the Winners Gallery for Nature, Landscape & Wildlife in the Applied Arts Photography Awards, based out of Canada, for a single image of a great blue heron feasting on fish and a series of heron feeding images.
      New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie (pictured) has been named the 2026-27 Fritz and Claudine Kundrun Fellow at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, the organization announced Thursday.  “The nine-month Kundrun Fellowship—Monticello’s most prestigious—enables fellows to devote their time to research and writing on topics directly related to Thomas Jefferson, his times, and his legacy.” Bouie is a graduate of the University of Virginia, founded by Jefferson in 1819.

  • “Bomani Jones is joined by Howard Bryant for the third episode of a historical retrospective series looking back at Colin Kaepernick, a decade after his initial protest. In this episode, Bo and Howard focus the conversation on the timeline starting in 2017 and how the aftermath of the protest impacted Kaepernick’s career. They reflect on the reality of league collusion as Kaepernick remained without a job despite proving he was a capable NFL quarterback. They trace how secondary narratives formed to critique his play, while the backdrop of Donald Trump’s presidency drastically shifted the national conversation.” (Credit: YouTube)

In 1972, @princeeditor.bsky.social and six other Black journalists filed the first discrimination complaint against a major American newspaper. He never stopped. Three decades of “Journal-isms” later, we’re honored to give him the Parker Award. Get your tickets: buff.ly/8kVKPRo

— UCC Media Justice Ministry (@uccmediajustice.org) 2026-08-25T14:26:00.479Z

86 views · 0 today

Related posts

CNN Query Gets Trump Aide Fired Over Ties to Racists

richard

AP’s Slavery Series Wins Top Pulitzer

richard

Behind Walls, ‘Completely Out of Public View’

richard

Leave a Comment

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.