Congress: No media coverage of returning caskets

Defense Authorization Bill for 2005, passed by the Senate, still covering 
Bush's ass.

-x


SEC. 366. MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE RETURN TO THE UNITED STATES OF THE REMAINS OF 
DECEASED MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES FROM OVERSEAS.

(a) FINDINGS- Congress makes the following findings:

(1) The Department of Defense, since 1991, has relied on a policy of no media 
coverage of the transfers of the remains of members Ramstein Air Force Base, 
Germany, nor at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, and the Port Mortuary Facility 
at Dover Air Force Base, nor at interim stops en route to the point of final 
destination in the transfer of the remains.

(2) The principal focus and purpose of the policy is to protect the wishes and 
the privacy of families of deceased members of the Armed Forces during their 
time of great loss and grief and to give families and friends of the dead the 
privilege to decide whether to allow media coverage at the member's duty or 
home station, at the interment site, or at or in connection with funeral and 
memorial services.

(3) In a 1991 legal challenge to the Department of Defense policy, as applied 
during Operation Desert Storm, the policy was upheld by the United States 
District Court for the District of Columbia, and on appeal, by the United 
States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in the case of JB 
Pictures, Inc. v. Department of Defense and Donald B. Rice, Secretary of the 
Air Force on the basis that denying the media the right to view the return of 
remains at Dover Air Force Base does not violate the first amendment 
guarantees of freedom of speech and of the press.

(4) The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in that 
case cited the following two key Government interests that are served by the 
Department of Defense policy:

(A) Reducing the hardship on the families and friends of the war dead, who may 
feel obligated to travel great distances to attend arrival ceremonies at Dover 
Air Force Base if such ceremonies were held.

(B) Protecting the privacy of families and friends of the dead, who may not 
want media coverage of the unloading of caskets at Dover Air Force Base.

(5) The Court also noted, in that case, that the bereaved may be upset at the 
public display of the caskets of their loved ones and that the policy gives 
the family the right to grant or deny access to the media at memorial or 
funeral services at the home base and that the policy is consistent in its 
concern for families.


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