President Donald Trump approved missile strikes against a Syrian air base following a sarin gas attack on April 4 that killed more than 70 people. Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad maintains that the government was not responsible for the attack, but the U.S. and other countries believe the gas was released from military planes, making the air base a target for U.S. strikes.
The media’s response was mixed, with anchors like MSNBC’s Brian Williams calling video of the missile launch “beautiful,” while commentators like Ann Coulter criticized the move on social media. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer also came under fire for his comparison between Assad and Hitler during a briefing.
On the weekly media criticism program Views of the News, Missouri School of Journalism professors Amy Simons, Earnest Perry and Mike McKean discuss how the media and the White House handled their coverage of the situation.
"At 5:30 before this happened he was a president not knowing what he was supposed to be doing, and now all of a sudden he's 'The President.'" -- Earnest Perry
For more, follow Views of the News on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
