Jeremy Corbyn says Beirut and Ankara terrorist attacks ‘got hardly any publicity’ compared to Paris

(The Huffington Post ) – Jeremy Corbyn has suggested the British media under-played terrorist attacks in Beirut and Ankara compared to its coverage of the atrocities in Paris this weekend.

The Labour leader claimed the events “got hardly any publicity” and the media should “report things that happen outside of Europe as well as inside”.

On Thursday evening, over 40 people died in Beirut in an IS terror attack a day before the Paris strikes. The extremists are also believed to have been responsible for the October suicide bombings in Ankara, Turkey, which killed over 100 people.

Mr Corbyn told ITV’s Lorraine Kelly this morning: “I think first of all what happened in Paris was appalling, this is a vibrant, multicultural city, young people of all faiths, and older people as well, all there together, and cultures, and this terrible thing happened.

“Likewise, which didn’t unfortunately get hardly any publicity, was the bombing in Beirut last week or the killing in Turkey. I think our media needs be able to report things that happen outside of Europe as well as inside. A life is a life.”

Media coverage of the terrorist attacks events has come under scrutiny on social media, with some questioning the apparent lack of coverage of the Beirut attacks in particular – with one tweet being shared more than 53,000 times.

However, many journalists have dismissed the claim. “Search Google News and you will find pages and pages of reports of the attacks in Beirut,” wrote journalist Martin Belam. “Pages and pages and pages. Over 1,286 articles in fact — lots of which pre-date the attacks in Paris.”