Florida, United States (Reuters): American President Donald Trump accused the media of ignoring attacks by ISIS terrorists in Europe.
Trump did not specify which attacks were going unreported, which news media organizations were ignoring them, or offer any details to support his claims.
He told a group of about 300 U.S. troops at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, "All over Europe, it's happening. It's gotten to a point where it's not even being reported."
"And, in many cases, the very, very dishonest press doesn't want to report it. They have their reasons, and you understand that," He further said that added, without saying what those reasons were.
Later, the White House released a list of 78 attacks around the world from September 2014 to December 2016.
A White House official said, "Networks are not devoting to each of them the same level of coverage they once did. 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.
Tompkins said, using an acronym for Islamic State, "To suggest that journalists have some reason not to report ISIS attacks is just outlandish."
