Editing Media coverage of the Iraq War (section)

===Ban lifted===

Soon after taking office in January 2009, President [[Barack Obama]] asked Defense Secretary [[Robert Gates]] to review the ban on media coverage of coffins. In February Gates announced that the ban would be lifted, and permission for coverage of individual soldiers would be at the discretion of their next of kin.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ban lifted, media witness solemn return of fallen service member |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/06/photo.ban.lifted/ |publisher=[[CNN]] |date=April 6, 2009 |access-date=April 16, 2009 |last=Mount |first=Mike}}</ref> On 5 April the return of Phillip Myers, an Air Force Staff Sergeant killed in Afghanistan the day before, became the first return of a US serviceman's remains to receive media coverage since the instatement of the original ban in 1991.<ref>{{cite news | title=US war dead media blackout lifted  | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7986203.stm | work=[[BBC News]] | date=April 6, 2009 | access-date=April 16, 2009}}</ref>