Army forms military funeral coverage panel

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Army forms military funeral coverage panel
By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, September 30, 2008


ARLINGTON, Va. — Journalists will now have a say on what the media can and cannot do when covering funerals at Arlington National Cemetery.

Army Secretary Peter Geren has signed a new media policy for the cemetery that calls for the creation of an oversight board that will include representatives from the cemetery, the Army and the media, including Stars and Stripes.

The board will serve as a forum to discuss "what is working well, what needs to be improved, what needs to be addressed in the future," said Army spokesman Paul Boyce.

Boyce said the board is expected to hold its first meeting in late October, and it should meet again before Veterans Day.

"The cemetery itself personifies the respect that we all have for our veterans," Boyce said. "We want to make sure that the media are part of that process, as transparent as possible, but while also respecting the wishes of the families and the deceased."

Media coverage of funerals at Arlington National Cemetery became an issue in April, when the Washington Post ran a column about how the media was kept so far away from the funeral of a Marine killed in Iraq that reporters could not hear the service.

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http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=57767