Stars and Stripes

Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO investigated allegations of censorship, news management, and command influence at the Stars and Stripes newspapers.

GAO found that: (1) institutional and cultural differences between the military and media made it difficult for the papers to simultaneously accomplish their missions to provide accurate, uncensored news and their military mission to provide mission-oriented material; (2) although the Department of Defense (DOD) revised its publications policy in 1984 in order to help prevent censorship, the revision actually permitted greater military influence by establishing an advisory board for each paper to be chaired by the appropriate unified command's public affairs officer, and by prohibiting investigative reporting; (3) according to a panel formed by the Society of Professional Journalists, evidence of censorship and inappropriate news management was conclusive at the Pacific Stars and Stripes, but inconclusive at the European Stars and Stripes; (4) allegations at the Pacific paper concerned attempts by military officials to influence reporting on subjects sensitive to host countries, attempts to influence Stars and Stripes personnel actions, and military unresponsiveness to reporters' inquiries; (5) most of the allegations in Europe involved external influence by commanders and their public affairs officers, who caused stories to be withheld or delayed, or were unresponsive; and (6) although 47 percent of the wire services' stories on DOD were negative, only 35 percent of the wire services' DOD stories published in the European paper were negative, and only 27 percent were negative in the Pacific paper.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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