President Obama reportedly told a group of news columnists this week that he does not watch enough cable news to grasp terrorism fears in the country following terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California.
The characterization of Obama’s comments was included in an article from Friday’s issue of the New York Times and has since been edited out of the piece without correction, Mediaite first reported. Several journalists also drew attention to the excerpt on social media before its removal.
Obama needs more cable news in his media diet? Revealing comment in a private meeting with newspaper columnists... pic.twitter.com/iUHz6Ey38g
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) December 18, 2015
"In his meeting with the columnists, Mr. Obama indicated that he did not see enough cable television to fully appreciate the anxiety after the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, and made clear that he plans to step up his public arguments," the Times piece read.
The article outlined a meeting, originally meant to be off the record, that Obama held with a group of columnists Tuesday during which he defended his response to the terror attacks. Obama saw his career-worst rating on terrorism following the coordinated shootings and suicide bombings in Paris that killed 130 people, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released last month.
Following the attacks in San Bernardino that killed 14, Americans now rate terrorism as the top problem facing the United States, according to Gallup data published earlier this week.
The Obama administration has responded to several national crises, such as the Department of Veterans’ Affairs fake waitlist scandal last year, by indicating that the president learned of the controversy through news reports.