Photograph by Brendan Smialowski
The Pentagon permitted the media, with the family's consent, to photograph the arrival of a coffin bearing a US soldier (Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers who was killed on April 4th by an IED in Afghanistan) for the first time in 18 years after the Obama administration lifted a ban on news coverage of returning war dead, a relic of the First Gulf War.
The ban has been the subject of debate for years. Supporters cite the privacy of family members and say that, in its absence, casualties could become politicized; critics point to the First Amendment and have accused the government of trying to keep the public in the dark about the human toll of war.
I think we should always err on the side of transparency and media access.