Three journalists sue Pentagon after being fired from military news outlet

Three journalists who worked for Stars and Stripes, a US government-funded news service, have sued the Department of Defense in federal court. They claim they were illegally fired after reporting on the USS Abraham Lincoln. According to The Guardian US, the journalists argue that their dismissals violated their first amendment rights to free speech.

The journalists, who are identified by The Hill as publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin, and reporter Lara Korte, filed their complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. They are seeking to prevent their firings, which were carried out by the Department of Defense.

Stars and Stripes is described by The Guardian US as “the U.S. military’s independent news source since the Civil War with a long history of editorial independence, free from news management or censorship by military command”.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Guardian US, The Hill — 2 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.