AP Statement on Revised Guidelines for Media Photos of War Dead

From Director of Photography Santiago Lyon:

The Associated Press is pleased with the U.S. Defense Secretary’s decision, which allows us to augment our coverage of wars abroad in a more complete fashion by being able to document these sad homecomings of America’s war dead with the dignity and respect they deserve.

We understand that the ability to photograph these homecomings is dependent on the approval of the families of the victims and we will have to work out the practical details on the ground as time goes on, especially should multiple caskets arrive at once.

Our job as a news organization is to photograph events as accurately and faithfully as possible. We leave the interpretation of the images to the viewer.