2026年8月24日 / 美国东部时间晚上8:57 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻网
在被五角大楼突然解雇数天后，《星条旗报》前总编辑在接受哥伦比亚广播公司新闻网采访时表示，“时间会证明”这家军方报纸能否在编辑层面上独立于其所报道的政府机构。
美国国防部上周向《星条旗报》总编辑埃里克·斯莱文、出版商马克斯·莱德勒以及中东记者劳拉·科尔特送达了解雇通知，指控他们不服从命令。此次解雇引发了人们对该报纸未来的担忧，这家报纸部分由美国纳税人资助，但长期以来一直保持独立运营。
在周一哥伦比亚广播公司新闻网《与加勒特少校共进外卖》节目采访中，斯莱文称解雇通知是一个“真正的意外”，是“非常出人意料”的事态发展。斯莱文在《星条旗报》工作了20多年，曾担任记者和分社社长，去年秋天升任总编辑。
斯莱文表示，他被解雇的公开理由是他上月在哥伦比亚广播公司《周日早间》节目中就特朗普政府推动全面改革《星条旗报》一事接受了采访。当被问及是否有任何底线是他不会逾越的时，他表示，军方要求不要刊登“完全准确的报道”将是一条“红线”。
周一，斯莱文称这些评论是“在我个人看来，针对何为我的红线的假设性回应。我当时描述的是审查制度，我认为这符合国防部的规定和法律本身。”
《星条旗报》最初创刊于美国内战时期，近几十年来，该报一直以编辑独立为荣——这意味着联邦政府不会 dictate 其出版内容。
一位熟悉该报运营的人士上周告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻网，《星条旗报》每年2900万美元的预算中约有一半来自纳税人。据两名美国官员透露，自越南战争、冷战和二战时期的发行量峰值以来，该报的读者人数有所下降，但目前平均每天仍有140万人阅读《星条旗报》。其海外印刷版还能送达偏远地区的服役人员。
斯莱文将该报的目标描述为向服役人员传递“直白的真相”。
“他们每天都在监督我们，”斯莱文在谈及该报读者时说道，“如果我们刊登的内容与他们的实际经历不符，他们会立刻指出我们的错误。”
“我们真的不会从正面或负面的角度去思考问题，但我当然能理解五角大楼可能会这么做。但我们不会回避这一点，我们会寻找对服役人员来说新颖、不同、有趣且有意义的内容，”他补充道。
今年早些时候，五角大楼发言人肖恩·帕内尔表示，国防部将对该报进行全面改革。他承诺要“使其运营现代化，将内容重心从消耗士气的‘觉醒式’干扰内容上转移，调整方向以服务新一代服役人员”。斯莱文称，五角大楼后来试图阻止该报刊发通讯社的 syndicated 文章。
上周，莱德勒告诉同事，他计划于9月底退休，理由是与特朗普政府存在根本性分歧。而在周五，莱德勒、斯莱文和科尔特被解雇。
斯莱文告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻网：“我当然希望《星条旗报》能以某种方式保持独立。我没有放弃这个希望，但时间会证明一切，我认为需要有一个清算。”
解雇事件发生后不久，《星条旗报》刊发了海军上尉威廉·厄本的公开信，他表示自己被任命为出版商的军方副手。厄本在信中写道，他的工作重点是提供“最高质量的编辑独立报道”，同时推动报纸现代化并增加广告收入。
当被问及厄本的公开信及其保持报纸独立的承诺时，斯莱文表示，他“不确定”如何将其与今年推动的报纸运营改革联系起来。
与斯莱文一同因接受哥伦比亚广播公司《周日早间》采访而被解雇的中东记者科尔特，周一在接受哥伦比亚广播公司新闻网单独采访时表示，“看到《星条旗报》领导层和五角大楼有关该报在编辑上保持独立的言论，我确实受到了鼓舞。”
“显然，这必须在实践中得到落实，我认为未来几周和几个月内我们就会得到答案，”她说。
五角大楼还对军方报道的其他方面做出了调整。
去年，五角大楼告知前来采访的记者，若要维持每日进入大楼的权限，他们需要签署一系列规定，包括限制“向军方人员索要敏感信息”。哥伦比亚广播公司新闻网和其他多家媒体拒绝签署该政策，导致数十名记者交回了采访证件。五角大楼否认其试图控制记者的报道内容，称这些规定是防止有害泄密的必要措施。
今年早些时候，一名法官否决了多项新规定，军方随后将其替换为要求所有记者在五角大楼内必须有专人陪同的规定。
斯莱文告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻网：“曾经有一段时期……在五角大楼，军方官员与记者坦诚交谈非常简单。”
“我认为这有助于国民了解美国军方的行动，而我担心我们正在失去这一点，”他说。
Former Stars and Stripes editor says firing was “real shock,” hopes paper “can remain independent”
August 24, 2026 / 8:57 PM EDT / CBS News
Days after his sudden firing by the Pentagon, the former editor-in-chief of Stars and Stripes told CBS News that “time will tell” whether the military newspaper will remain editorially independent from the government agency it covers.
The Defense Department delivered termination notices last week to Stars and Stripes Editor-in-Chief Erik Slavin, publisher Max Lederer and Middle East reporter Lara Korte, accusing them of insubordination. The dismissals raised questions about the future of the paper, which is partly funded by U.S. taxpayers but has historically operated independently.
In an interview Monday on CBS News’ “The Takeout with Major Garrett,” Slavin called the termination notice a “real shock” and a “very unexpected” development. Slavin had worked at the Stars and Stripes for just over two decades, serving as a reporter and bureau chief before being promoted to editor-in-chief last fall.
The stated reason for his firing, Slavin said, was his appearance last month in a “CBS Sunday Morning” report on the Trump administration’s push to overhaul Stars and Stripes. Slavin was asked if there were any lines that he would not cross, and he said a demand from the military not to publish a “perfectly accurate story” would be a “red line.”
On Monday, Slavin called those comments a “hypothetical response, in my personal opinion, as to what would be my red line. And I described censorship, which I believe to be in line with Department of Defense regulations and the law itself.”
Stars and Stripes was first published during the Civil War, and in recent decades, the paper has prided itself on its editorial independence — meaning the federal government does not dictate what it can and can’t publish.
Roughly half of Stars and Stripes’ $29 million annual budget comes from taxpayers, a person familiar with the newspaper’s operations told CBS News last week. Readership has declined since its peaks during the Vietnam War, the Cold War and World War II, according to two U.S. officials, but an average of 1.4 million people see Stars and Stripes each day. Print editions overseas also reach service members in remote locations.
Slavin described the paper’s goal as giving service members “the straight truth.”
“They hold us accountable every day,” Slavin said of the paper’s readers. “If we get something that doesn’t correspond with their lived experience, they call us out on it real fast.”
“We never think, really, in terms of positive and negative, but I can certainly see why maybe the Pentagon would. But we don’t shy away from that, we look for what’s new, different, interesting and relevant to service members,” he added.
Earlier this year, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the Defense Department would make sweeping changes to the paper. He vowed to “modernize its operations, refocus its content away from woke distractions that syphon morale, and adapt it to serve a new generation of service members.” The Pentagon later sought to stop the paper from running syndicated articles by wire services, Slavin has said.
Last week, Lederer told colleagues he planned to retire at the end of September, citing fundamental differences with the Trump administration. And on Friday, Lederer, Slavin and Korte were terminated.
Slavin told CBS News: “I certainly hope [Stars and Stripes] can remain independent in some way. I haven’t given up on that, but time will tell, and I think there needs to be a reckoning.”
Shortly after the firings, Stars and Stripes published an open letter from Navy Capt. William Urban, who said he was tapped to serve as military deputy to the publisher. Urban wrote that his priorities were to produce “the highest quality of editorially independent reporting,” while modernizing the paper and boosting its advertising revenue.
Asked about Urban’s letter and his pledge to keep the paper independent, Slavin said he’s “not sure” how to square it with this year’s push to change the paper’s operations.
Korte — the Middle East reporter who was fired alongside Slavin for sitting for a “CBS Sunday Morning” interview — said in a separate interview with CBS News on Monday that she has “certainly been bolstered to see comments from the Stripes’ leadership and from the Pentagon that the Stripes is editorially independent.”
“Obviously that’s something that has to be instituted in practice, and I think that’s something we’re going to get an answer on in the coming weeks and months,” she said.
The Pentagon has made other changes to how the military can be covered.
Last year, reporters who cover the Pentagon were told that in order to maintain daily access to the building, they would need to sign on to a host of rules, including a restriction on “soliciting” sensitive information from military personnel. CBS News and many other media outlets declined to sign the policy, leading dozens of reporters to turn in their press credentials. The Pentagon has denied that it is seeking to control what reporters can publish, calling the rules necessary to prevent harmful leaks.
A judge struck down many of the new rules earlier this year, and the military replaced them with a requirement that all journalists be escorted while inside the Pentagon.
Slavin told CBS News that “there used to be a time … where in the Pentagon, it was very simple for military officials to talk with journalists very frankly.”
“I think it contributed to the nation’s knowledge of what the U.S. military was doing, and I fear that we’re losing that,” he said.