For almost two months now, Stars and Stripes has been reporting on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln and conditions on board. That reporting, along with coverage from other publications, has caught the attention of defense officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has called the reports “completely misrepresented.”
Now, a longtime publisher is retiring just months after the same publication lost its ombudsman.
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Stars and Stripes publisher announces retirement
In a memo to staff earlier this week, obtained by The Associated Press, Stars and Stripes publisher Max D. Lederer Jr. announced he was retiring, effective at the end of September.
His retirement marks the end of a three-decade career with the organization. It comes as the Pentagon ramps up efforts to oversee the publication and its content.
In the memo, Lederer said it had “become clear that my philosophy of leadership, and my understanding of the value and mission of Stars and Stripes, differ in fundamental ways from the direction the leadership of the Department of Defense has for the organization.”
He took part in an interview with the publication to discuss his retirement further. In it, he said he believes modernization efforts the Pentagon announced were not the right ones. Those efforts included converting the publication to a digital-only product.
Controversy surrounding the USS Lincoln
The publication has faced scrutiny and additional oversight for months, but things picked up earlier this summer as it reported on the USS Lincoln.
On June 9, Stars and Stripes published a story headlined, “Navy carrier in Mideast at sea for more than 200 days, testing crew resilience.”
It detailed concerns from military families and sailors, with some describing suicide attempts, inadequate food, shortages of basic hygiene products and more.
The publication ran a similar story earlier this month: “USS Abraham Lincoln families press Navy leaders over sailors’ mental health.”
From there, news of rough conditions onboard the ship spread across the media, with news organizations nationwide reporting on the conditions and leadership’s response.
Hegseth and other Pentagon and Navy officials have criticized the reporting, calling it false or outdated. President Donald Trump even weighed in, calling the reports fake.
A larger push to oversee the publication
Pushback from the Pentagon on the Stars and Stripes is not a new thing, either. In January, the Pentagon announced the publication had gone “woke” and needed a “refocus.”
The comments sparked backlash from the Stars and Stripes’ former ombudsman Jaqueline Smith. She complained about Hegseth’s interference with the publication’s editorial independence.
Stars and Stripes is partly funded by the Pentagon, and its staff includes Defense Department employees and civilian journalists.
Smith wrote a column urging readers to speak out against the “refocus” and to demand that Stars and Stripes maintain its independence.
“Your help is urgently needed to keep Stars and Stripes operating as an independent news source that adheres to journalistic principles and ethics,” Smith wrote. “Your help is needed for Stripes to continue providing fair, accurate and unbiased news for those who are serving our country and our veterans. They deserve nothing less than the unfiltered truth.”
Less than a month later, Smith was fired.
“Apparently, the Pentagon also doesn’t want you to hear from me anymore about threats to the editorial independence of Stars and Stripes,” she wrote in an April opinion column. “They fired me.”
Smith added, “No one should be surprised that they’re kicking out the one person charged by Congress with protecting Stars and Stripes’ editorial independence.”
According to a CBS News report, Pentagon officials discussed firing Lederer before his scheduled retirement.
It’s unclear, however, if or when that decision would be made.
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