President Donald Trump on Monday accused the news media of ignoring attacks by Islamist militants in Europe.
Trump, who has made defeating Islamic State a core goal of his
presidency, did not specify which attacks were going unreported, which
news media organizations were ignoring them, or offer any details to
support his claims.
"All over Europe, it's happening. It's
gotten to a point where it's not even being reported," he told a group
of about 300 U.S. troops at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida.
"And,
in many cases, the very, very dishonest press doesn't want to report
it. They have their reasons, and you understand that," he added, without
saying what those reasons were.
The White House later released a list of 78 attacks around the world from September 2014 to December 2016.
"Networks
are not devoting to each of them the same level of coverage they once
did," a White House official said. "This cannot be allowed to become the
'new normal.'"It was Trump's latest salvo against the news media, a
favorite target for derision that he says broadly underestimated his
chances during the presidential campaign. He has kept up the attacks
since his Jan. 20 inauguration.
Trump at one point cited
attacks in the French cities of Paris and Nice, which were widely
covered. More than 230 people have died in France alone in the past two
years at the hands of attackers allied to Islamic State.
Al Tompkins at The Poynter Institute, a Florida-based journalism school, dismissed Trump's criticism.
"To
suggest that journalists have some reason not to report ISIS attacks is
just outlandish," Tompkins said, using an acronym for Islamic State.
(Reuters)