WHNPA Joins NPPA In Call To End Dover Photo Ban
By Donald R. Winslow
© 2009 News Photographer magazine
WASHINGTON, DC (February 12, 2009) – The White House News Photographers Association has echoed a call from the National Press Photographers Association in asking President Obama to lift the photography and coverage ban that prevents photojournalists documenting the flag-draped coffins of America's war dead returning to Dover Air Force base.
On Tuesday, NPPA's leaders sent letters of support to President Obama, as well as to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and Rep. Walter B. Jones (R-NC), who is the sponsor of HR 269, the "Fallen Hero Commemoration Act," asking for the long-standing ban to be lifted.
WHNPA's president Dennis Brack on Tuesday also asked President Obama to lift the ban.
"Our members urge you to permit this coverage to resume," Brack wrote to the President.
"Coverage of this important story was acceptable for decades and it was suspended because a former administration thought that seeing coffins returning would be detrimental to the message that the administration wanted to tell to the American public.
Brack offered the assistance of WHNPA members in helping the Obama administration format any new rules for resuming coverage at Dover.
"Of course, we feel that the coverage should be done in a dignified and respectful manner," Brack wrote.
NPPA's letters to the White House and Capitol Hill on Tuesday expressed a similar offer to assist with developing coverage plans, as well expressing NPPA's opinion that the photographic ban "violates the very principles of free speech and free exchange of ideas for which these heros have died."
Yesterday NPPA expanded their request to lift the ban to include Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, sending him the same letter that went to the White House and Capitol Hill requesting a new policy of open coverage.
"My father was an Army Major who served this nation for 27 years," NPPA president Bob Carey wrote to the Secretary of Defense. "I learned at an early age that members of the U.S. Military protect our freedoms and those freedoms should not be taken for granted, especially when these soldiers sacrifice their lives for our freedoms. Now, as a photojournalist, I can state unequivocally that my colleagues have nothing but the utmost respect for the uniform and the family when we cover these moving events."
On Tuesday, following comments President Obama made about the Dover photography ban on Monday night during his live televised press conference, Gates ordered the Pentagon to review the military's ban.
"I think that looking at it again makes all kinds of sense," he told reporters Tuesday at a Pentagon press conference. "I'm pretty much open to whatever the results of this review might be."
Gates said that he asked the Bush White House about a year ago if the Dover policy could be changed. The Secretary of Defense said the White House had rejected the idea - citing privacy concerns - and also responded that they feared that if the arrivals were covered by the media the deceased's family "might be compelled to be at the base for services honoring their family member," which could "create a financial burden for them."
Since 1991 and the Persian Gulf War the media have been banned from covering the arrival of flag-draped coffins at Dover. The air base is the military's largest mortuary facility, where the bodies of soldiers killed in overseas action are prepared for burial before they are sent to families and hometown cemeteries across the United States.
Powerful photographs from the Vietnam War, including those from Dover, helped shift public opinion about the conflict and more and more Americans became opposed to the country's efforts in Southeast Asia. Daily news photographs of flag-draped caskets arriving at Dover were common in the papers and on nightly news during the Vietnam War, so much so that the phrase "The Dover Test" was used by analysts to determine the public's tolerance or intolerance for growing war casualties.
NPPA has been vocal in its support of HR 269, the "Fallen Heros Commemoration Act" reintroduced into the House this year by Jones after a similar measure he authored didn't past last year. NPPA's leadership and its legal general council have also asked NPPA members to contact their elected representatives to voice their support for the bill. Rep. Jones' proposed legislation would lift the ban on photography and media coverage of America's war dead returning home.
Rep. Jones says that he wants to make sure that the American public remembers that the country is at war, and that American soldiers are dying in battle. The bill will allow credentialed media members to photograph Dover's military ceremonies as bodies of soldiers killed on active duty return home, as well as covering flag-draped coffins arriving at any military installation.
“Throughout the history of our Nation, members of the United States Armed Forces have selflessly given their lives to secure and protect the freedoms Americans enjoy today," Rep. Jones said. "Today, our military is serving our nation in Iraq, Afghanistan and many other parts of the world. Without a loved one serving in the military, it is sometimes possible for Americans to overlook the sacrifices that have been made – and continue to be made – by members of the Armed Forces on behalf of our Nation.
"By once again permitting access to accredited members of the media at military commemoration ceremonies, memorial services conducted by the Armed Forces, and the arrival of the remains of fallen service members at U.S. military installations, this legislation would honor those who have given their lives in defense of our Nation," Rep. Jones said.
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