Media access to funerals allegedly discouraged

Media access to funerals allegedly discouraged

Ex-employee says Arlington official contacted families about media allowance
By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Aug 5, 2008 9:58:07 EDT

The former spokeswoman for Arlington National Cemetery says the facility’s No. 2 official has been calling military families to try to talk them out of media coverage of their loved ones’ funerals, despite his denials that he does so.

Gina Gray, who was fired June 27 after 2½ months on the job, said Deputy Director Thurman Higginbotham told her in early May that he had been making such calls for about a year — while denying he did so at least three times, including once in an April 30 meeting with Pentagon reporters to discuss the cemetery’s media policy.

Gray, an advocate for a more welcoming policy for the media at the iconic cemetery, said Higginbotham also frequently asserted that many families have told him they don’t want media coverage. But after reviewing all Arlington paperwork for troops killed in Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001 and buried at the cemetery, Gray found that 63 percent of the families agreed to media coverage, wishes relayed through their casualty assistance officers to Arlington officials.
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