Stars and Stripes (newspaper)

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For other uses, see Stars & Stripes.

Stars and Stripes
The July 27, 2005 front page of Stars and Stripes (Mideast Edition)
Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Tabloid

Owner	U.S. Department of Defense
Founded	1861
Headquarters	Arlington, VA, U.S.

Website: stripes.com

Stars and Stripes is the newspaper published for the United States Armed Forces overseas. It is available in three formats: the European Edition, the Mideast Edition, and the Pacific Edition.

On 9 November 1861, during the Civil War, soldiers of the Illinois 11th, 18th, and 29th Regiments, after forcing the Confederates south, set up camp in Bloomfield, Missouri. Upon finding the newspaper office empty, they decided to print a newspaper for their expedition, relating the troop's activities. They called it the Stars and Stripes. Today, the Stars and Stripes Museum / Library Association is in Bloomfield.

In World War I, the staff and roving reporters and illustrators of the newspaper were veterans of the newspaper world or, more frequently, talented young soldiers who would later become famous members of the United States media in the postwar era. Harold Ross, the editor of the Stars and Stripes, returned home to found The New Yorker magazine; Cyrus Baldridge, art director and principal illustrator, later became a major illustrator of books and magazines, as well as a writer, print maker, and stage designer; Alexander Woollcott, who was on the editorial staff, enjoyed a future as the most influential drama critic in New York City.

Stars and Stripes was then an 8-page weekly, which reached a peak of 526,000 readers, relying considerably on the improvisational efforts of its staff to get it printed in France and to distribute it to U.S. troops.

In World War II, the newspaper was printed in several editions in several operating theaters. Again, both newspapermen in uniform and young soldiers, some of whom would later become important journalists, filled the staffs and showed zeal and talent in publishing and delivering the paper on time. Some of the editions were assembled and printed very close to the front in order to get the latest information to the most troops. Also, during the war, the newspaper published the 53-book series G.I. Stories.

The newspaper is the main printed source of news at the installations in Europe and Mideast and East Asia. Stars and Stripes has expanded to an average of 40–48 pages each day and is still published in tabloid format, reminiscent of many British dailies. The newspaper employs civilian reporters, and U.S. military senior noncommissioned officers as reporters, at a number of locations around the world.

Well known Stars and Stripes former staffers include 60 Minutes’ Andy Rooney and Steve Kroft, songwriter and author Shel Silverstein, comic book illustrator Tom Sutton, Hollywood photographer Phil Stern and Wall Street reporter Louis Rukeyser.

Stars and Stripes newspaper is a non-appropriated fund (NAF) organization, subsidized by the Department of Defense.