PENTAGON SEEKS TO CUT FUNDS TO MILITARY NEWSPAPER STARS AND STRIPES

A federal budget request seeks to cut about $15.5 million a year from Stars and Stripes, the daily newspaper produced for U.S. military personnel around the world, notes Grumpy Editor.

The Pentagon wants to reinvest funds in functions it considers more critical for warfighting.

 

Stars and Stripes receives about $8.7 million annually in operations and maintenance funds and about $6.9 million in contingency operations funds to support news reporting in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq.

 

The proposed cut in funds to Stars and Stripes equals about half of the news organization’s annual funds to pay expenses. The military newspaper’s remaining money comes from sales, subscriptions and advertising.

Stars and Stripes first appeared during the Civil War and has been published continuously since World War II.

 

It prints European and Pacific editions. 

 

During wars and other times, the newspaper is a key source of worldwide news for those in uniform, including those at front lines and foxholes.

 

During the Korean War, for example, it published five editions a day from its Japan-based newsroom.  Editions were delivered to South Korea, the Philippines, ships at sea, throughout Japan along with a Tokyo street edition hawked by Japanese boys.

 

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