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All three newscasts assigned a reporter to cover the decision by the Pentagon to end its 18-year-old absolute ban on photography of flag-draped military coffins at Dover AFB. The decision whether or not to allow news coverage of the arrival ceremonies will now be made by the bereaved kin. "Everybody understands a family's need for privacy," stated CBS' David Martin from the Pentagon, "but that is not why the ban was put in place." Also at the Pentagon, NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reminded us of an "embarrassing shot on split screen TV" of President George Bush pere "bantering with the press while Americans killed in Panama arrived at Dover." The ban was instituted when Desert Storm, Bush's next war, started.
"Other democracies let their citizens see their young men and women come home from war in flag-draped coffins," CBS' Martin remarked. NBC's Miklaszewski reminded us of Canada's Highway of Heroes that his colleague Kevin Tibbles covered last fall. ABC's David Wright considered the public relations pros and cons of showing the coffins. Offering visual evidence of the "human cost of war" might undermine political support, he mused. "Many believe that is what happened in Vietnam. Yet public opinion turned against the Iraq War even without the pictures."
CBS' Martin ended his report in a tone of controled fury. "The younger President Bush was accused of using the ban to cover up the true cost of his own war in Iraq but the fact is you cannot cover up something that costly. All you have to do…is walk into the physical therapy room at Walter Reed."
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