Obama reverses media ban on casket photos

The new policy on photographs of fallen troops' caskets has not been ironed it, but families will have a choice of media presence at Dover Air Force Base, the AP reported. No timetable has been set for when the new policy will go into effect.

The Obama administration is reversing an 18-year ban on news coverage of the return of war dead, allowing photographs of flag-covered caskets when families of the fallen troops agree, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday.

"My conclusion was we should not presume to make the decision for the families," Gates said in announcing results of a quick review of a ban that had stood through Republican and Democratic administrations.

Although details are being worked out, the new policy will give families a choice of whether to admit the press to ceremonies at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, the entry point to the United States for the caskets of overseas war dead.

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