Tom Curley, president and CEO of the Associated Press, urged better battlefront access for the press as the war in Afghanistan expands and more U.S. troops are deployed.

In a speech at a University of Kentucky conference on war and journalism Thursday night, Curley declared: " ... the fact is that war coverage by a free and independent media with reasonable access to the battlefield forces policy makers to deal with the reality of what is happening on the ground instead of what they want the public - or even Washington - to think. Nowhere is truth more at risk - or more elusive - than in today's wars."

The entire speech can be found HERE.