Prospective hires at US military newspaper 'inappropriately' screened for Trump loyalty

The U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes is screening job applicants for their support for President Donald Trump's agenda, despite a congressional mandate for the publication's independence.

The newspaper's leadership had been unaware until the Washington Post inquired about the issue this month, but Stars and Stripes ombudsman Jacqueline Smith later confirmed that applicants were being asked about the Trump agenda when applying through the government employment site USAJobs.

“How would you advance the President’s Executive Orders and policy priorities in this role? Identify one or two relevant Executive Orders or policy initiatives that are significant to you, and explain how you would help implement them if hired," applicants are being asked, and Smith said the Office of Personnel Management was responsible for adding the question.

Stars and Stripes was first published during the Civil War, and it's partly funded by the Pentagon and staffed by Defense Department employees, but Congress requires the paper to maintain editorial independence and established the ombudsman position to defend its autonomy.

“Asking prospective employees how they would support the administration’s policies is antithetical to Stripes’ journalistic and federally mandated mission,” Smith said. “Journalistically, it’s against ethics, because reporters or any staff member — editors, photographers — should be impartial.”

Editor in chief Erik Slavin told the Post the USAJobs platform was not set up with Stars in Stripes in mind.

“We pride ourselves on objectivity. We’ve reinforced our commitment to scrupulous balance and accuracy," Slavin said. "We do not shy away from holding military officials accountable when a story calls for it.”

The newspaper's publisher said OPM did not notify Stripes leadership about the questions added to the application form.

“We have not had an applicant inquire about the questions," said publisher Max Lederer. "My understanding is answering is optional and they are not a qualification criterion."

OPM Director Scott Kupor defended the essay question as optional and said it gave candidates a chance to say more about themselves, and he told the newspaper that hiring decisions should not include "any ideological litmus tests," but Smith said questions of that nature were more suited for other types of government jobs.

“But for a journalism job, it’s just inappropriate,” Smith said.

Former and current reporters, all of whom were hired before Trump's second presidency, said they had not been asked similar questions when applying for their jobs and said that might have given them pause.

“This is a really shocking, and sad, development," said one former reporter. "Stars and Stripes says it provides ‘independent news and information.’ That seems impossible if reporters are concerned about advancing the president’s policy priorities."

Former managing editor D. Earl Stephens, who publishes a column for the Raw Story, agreed the questions undermined the newspaper's mission.

"Stars and Stripes is a Congressionally mandated, editorially independent newspaper that reports on the troops and their families overseas," said Stephens, who served as managing editor from 2003 to 2009. "These readers depend on the newspaper's objective, straight-down-the-middle reporting to improve their daily lives. Truth and facts aren't optional in journalism, and I will hope the leadership at the newspaper makes that crystal clear to this administration."