The first arrival was covered in April.
How it's done:
http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/dover_behind_the_scenes.php?page=all&print=trueCasualty officers try to deliver their fateful knock on the door within six hours of death. With the new policy, two new questions have been added to their standard notification script: Will the next of kin consent to coverage of their loved one’s stateside arrival, and would they and two other family members like to travel (at the government’s expense) to witness the ceremony?
The tight timeline requires that the questions be asked in the same conversation where the family is informed of the death. “It’s the only way we can do it and give the media time to get to Dover,” says Melnyk.
If the next of kin consents to access, the DoD will tape and photograph the ceremony with their own cameras, and provide copies to the family. The Air Force’s casualty script notes that the video will likely be available to any requester under the Freedom of Information Act.
On Friday, the Pentagon announced that news organizations wishing to cover the ceremonies should contact the Dover mortuary and ask to be put on an e-mail contact list. When a family grants access, the military will contact this list about eight hours before the plane’s arrival—not much longer than the flight time from Ramstein Air Force base in Germany, through which most casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan are routed.
After arriving at Dover, the deceased’s family will be asked if they consent to be photographed and filmed by the media on the tarmac while watching the transfer, and, separately, if they’d like to be made available for off-base interviews after the ceremony.
The base’s notification list, in existence only since Friday, already has 150 organizations from across the country, along with some international outlets, according to Air Force Captain Mike Andrews, a public affairs officer temporarily detailed to Dover for the early days of the policy. Last night, he said, the base reached its maximum accommodation with thirty-five journalists.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
