TAMPA, Florida — Donald Trump continued his assault on media coverage Monday, accusing news agencies of intentionally not reporting terrorist attacks.
Trump made the claim while speaking to the U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, according to multiple reports. The president offered no specifics on what attacks were not reported.
“All over Europe, it’s happening. It’s gotten to a point where it’s not even being reported,” Trump said, according to Reuters. “And, in many cases, the very, very dishonest press doesn’t want to report it. They have their reasons and you understand that.”
The White House issued a list Monday evening of 78 attacks it says were inspired or carried out by ISIS, the Associated Press reports. The list includes the truck attack in Nice, France, which received worldwide coverage, and attacks in which there were no fatalities.
The AP was unable to confirm if every attack on the list was associated with ISIS.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump actually meant that attacks don’t receive enough coverage, the AP reports.
“He felt that members of media don’t always cover some of those events to the extent that other events might get covered,” Spicer said. “Like a protest gets blown out of the water, and yet an attack or a foiled attack doesn’t necessarily get the same coverage.”
Politifact.com reviewed Trump’s claim and noted that terrorist attacks occur everyday around the world. Benjamin H. Friedman, a research fellow in security studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, tells Politifact that attacks in the West receive far more coverage than those in other parts of the world.
Recent attacks on U.S. soil received extensive coverage, including in San Bernandino, Calif., Orlando, Fla., and at Ohio State University.
Ted Bromund, a foreign policy specialist with the conservative Heritage Foundation, tells Politifact that there is evidence that the nature of some attacks has been downplayed. He said some politicians have been hesitant to blame some attacks on radical Islamists.
Still, Politifact rated Trump’s statement “Pants on Fire.”
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