Secretary of State John Kerry suggested the media should stop covering terrorism so much in a press conference in Bangladesh, saying the media would “do us all a service” by intentionally not reporting the news.
“Perhaps the media would do us all a service if they didn’t cover it quite as much,” Kerry said, after lamenting how easy it is to terrorize people. “People wouldn’t know what’s going on.”
The suggestion plays into the Obama administration’s oft-repeated talking point that responding to the Islamic State in full force actually plays right into their narrative and only helps the group recruit more jihadis for their global war. President Barack Obama’s strategy is to instead downplay and “degrade” the group by ignoring it as much as possible and taking a significantly measured military approach.
But Kerry’s suggestion the news media intentionally keep people in the dark seems to be a new tactic. Here’s the full quote from his press conference during a visit to Bangladesh, reported by Fox News:
“Remember this: No country is immune from terrorism. It’s easy to terrorize. Government and law enforcement have to be correct 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. But if you decide one day you’re going to be a terrorist and you’re willing to kill yourself, you can go out and kill some people. You can make some noise. Perhaps the media would do us all a service if they didn’t cover it quite as much. People wouldn’t know what’s going on. (Applause.)”
It was Kerry’s first official visit to the country, and came in the wake of terror in Dhaka after jihadis slaughtered hostages at a restaurant. Kerry discussed the root causes of terror at the press conference.
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