Ed
Offley, Editor of DefenseWatch magazine, has
been a military reporter and defense specialist
for 22 years in a variety of journalism assignments
throughout the United States. DefenseWatch
is an online magazine that addresses military
and security issues from the viewpoint of
active-duty and reservist component personnel
and veterans.
Offley previously served as Editor-in-Chief
of The Stars and Stripes after the civilian-owned
newspaper was acquired by Stars and Stripes
Omnimedia Inc. in March 2000. A 1969 graduate
of the University of Virginia, Offley served
in the U.S. Navy in Vietnam before joining
The Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg, Va., as
a reporter in 1972. He worked as an editorial
writer at three newspapers in Virginia during
1977-85 before joining The Seattle Post Intelligencer
as an editorial writer in 1986.
Offley, 55, lives in Panama City Beach, Fla.,
with his wife, Karen, and daughter, Andrea.
Contact: dweditor@yahoo.com.
Is the Pentagon trying to kill off its own newspaper, The Stars and Stripes?
That is what a number of outraged newspaper staffers are saying in the wake of an announcement that financial shortfalls will lead to staff layoffs and outsourcing of production and advertising and circulation support over the next two years.
The Stars and Stripes is not just any newspaper. It's the official
newspaper of the American Grunt, and has been so since World
War I. Owned by the DoD and managed by the American Forces Information
Service (AFIS), The Stars and Stripes today has a Washington, D.C.
newsroom and bureaus throughout Europe and the Pacific, with six printing
plants that produce copies of the daily newspaper 363 days a year.
All in all, the operation has about 100 fulltime employees, including
35 reporters in Washington, D.C. and bureaus in Europe and Asia.
Its journalists have accompanied U.S. troops into every major conflict
from World War I to Operation
Iraqi Freedom. Following the end of major combat operations last
spring, the newspaper opened a bureau in Iraq and has provided steady,
comprehensive coverage of the troops there.
And that, furious staffers tell DefenseWatch, is where the trouble began. As the Stripes website announced last October:
"Between June and September, 2003, Stars and Stripes printed 200
letters from troops in the deserts of Iraq and Kuwait and other remote
outposts that have led the fight against terrorism. Roughly 60 percent
complained about various things, ranging from living conditions and
problems with mail to redeployment dates back home. The remaining
40 percent urged the others to get on with their duty."
"With so many voices clamoring for attention, Stripes decided to try to find out what the ground truth was in Iraq. Three teams of reporters were dispatched there to see for themselves what it was like - to talk to as many service members as possible, and have them fill out a questionnaire."
The Stripes reporters visited a total of 50 U.S. military camps inside Iraq, debriefing nearly 2,000 troops with a detailed questionnaire gauging their morale and viewpoints on key issues. As a result, the newspaper published a major special report, "Ground Truth," that ran for seven days beginning on Oct. 15, 2003. The series sparked international news coverage of its findings, with articles and reports in The Washington Post, Time magazine, CNN and other major news media organizations.
The disclosure of declining troop morale, one Stripes staffer says, "was a huge embarrassment to the Pentagon." Both Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and JCS Chairman Gen. Richard J. Myers were confronted on the series by the Pentagon press corps. During a joint press briefing on Oct. 16, Myers praised the initial Stripes report as "useful insight" on how the troops were feeling.
"It's something we take very, very seriously," Myers added. "We look at [troop morale] all the time."
At the same time, however, The Stars and Stripes is suffering from a drop in revenue because of declining advertising, increased operating costs from covering the situation in Iraq, and a dip in paid circulation. A memorandum from Stripes advertising coordinator Matt Bush to the news staff last week noted that the news operation lost $1.6 million in FY 2003 and was projected to lost another $1.7 million in the current fiscal year. Moreover, the declining strength of the dollar against the Euro is anticipated to increase losses by another $850,000, and circulation figures for the first quarter of 2004 were down by $302,000.
Responding to a query from DefenseWatch, Publisher Thomas E. Kelscht confirmed that planning is underway to cut operating costs over the next two years. However, he defended the plan as a "contingency plan" to adjust to significant U.S. force realignments and cutbacks anticipated in Europe over that period of time.
"In the case of Germany," Kelscht explained, "we need to be preparing for the proposed shift in troops to the Eastern Europe countries and the downsizing of Germany which [European Command chief] Gen. [James] Jones has announced." Changes in the Pacific would be limited to Guam and not existing printing operations in Japan or Korea, he added.
But Stripes staffers say the overall thrust of the plan will seriously hurt their organization's viability.
"It's important to understand how Stripes operates to appreciate this," one veteran newspaper employee told DefenseWatch. "Our budget is $30 million a year. The Pentagon gives us [in direct financial support] $11 million. This is absurd."
A civilian newspaper generates its income through display and classified advertising, and paid circulation, but several unique aspects of the Stripes operation make this nearly impossible to do, the staffer said. "We're told to operate self-sufficiently to the greatest extent that we can. Again, this is ridiculous. We don't have huge car dealerships and department stores and malls to advertise with us. We can't possibly function as a real newspaper from a business standpoint. We exist as a service to the troops, particularly in wartime."
Sources tell DefenseWatch that even though the DoD successfully pressed for the controversial $87 billion supplemental appropriation for ongoing stabilization operations in Iraq, AFIS has refused to seek any additional money for the newspaper to cover its current operating losses.
The reorganization plan now under preparation would result in the outsourcing of printing operations in Europe with current employees being laid off. In the Pacific, the plan calls for obtaining a "publishing partner" that would handle all production, advertising and circulation work for the newspaper. Kelscht said the number of employees who would lose their jobs is not known.
Several Stripes staffers say the Pentagon is slowly strangling the financial aspect of the news operation to later justify a future reorganization that will strip it of the last vestiges of independent journalism. "In past war situations, the Pentagon has provided extra funds to the newspaper to cover costs. Not now," said another source familiar with the newspaper outsourcing plan. "The Pentagon appears intent on destroying Stars and Stripes."
Kelscht firmly denied any Pentagon retaliation for the "Ground Truth" series: "I have had nothing but support from DoD over the 'Ground Truth' series," he stated. "Not a single word of criticism from above has reached me."
However, the veteran Stripes employee said he had been told by another Stripes executive that the transformation plan was "politically motivated."
"This is not about money," the staffer said. "It's totally political. It's about trying to kill Stars and Stripes."
The embattled Stars and Stripes staffers say the only thing that can save their historic newspaper is direct congressional intervention.
Footnote: During 2001-02 I served as Editor-in-Chief
of Stars and Stripes Omnimedia, a Pittsburgh-based news media company
that had acquired ownership of the "Stars and Stripes" trademark from
its civilian owner. However, this organization had no connection or
relationship with the government-owned Stars and Stripes.
Ed
Offley, Editor of DefenseWatch magazine, has
been a military reporter and defense specialist
for 22 years in a variety of journalism assignments
throughout the United States. DefenseWatch
is an online magazine that addresses military
and security issues from the viewpoint of
active-duty and reservist component personnel
and veterans. 
