Kellyanne Conway says 'haters' in the media keep the Bowling Green Massacre gaffe alive

Kellyanne Conway, the former pollster, who is now is a spokesperson for President Donald Trump – has complained to Fox News that "haters" in the media keep bringing up her 'Bowling Green Massacre' gaffe.

In a trailer for the Fox New show Media Buzz with Howard Kurtz, Conway says she merely "misspoke" one word.

"I should have said 'plot' or I should have just called them 'terrorists… I clarified immediately. I should have said 'terrorists' and not 'massacre'," Conway said in a preview, reported the political news website The Hill.

Conway posted a tweet later that day, claiming that she had meant to say "Bowling Green terrorists".

On Friday (3 February), Conway accused the US media of not reporting the 'Bowling Green Massacre', implying that the fictional attack had been carried out by refugees from one of the seven countries affected by Trump's travel ban.

No such attack took place in the US. However, The Washington Post suggested Conway could have been referring to the 2011 arrests of two Iraqis who had lived in Bowling Green.

The refugees were arrested for attempting to send weapons and money to Al-Qaeda in Iraq, but had not carried out any attacks on US soil.

Conway was widely criticised for her statement, and became the target of jokes, memes and protests.

Some New Yorkers held a vigil for the Bowling Green Massacre on Friday, chanting "Never Remember, Always Forget" and demanded more "alternative facts".

Chelsea Clinton – the daughter of Hillary and Bill Clinton – added her voice to criticisms of Conway:

On Tuesday (31 January), the Trump administration said that it would no longer be sending spokespeople to appear on CNN, as the channel refused to "promote" the president's agenda. However, the next day Sebastian Gorka, a White House aide, and former editor of Steve Bannon's far-right website Breitbart – appeared on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360.

On Saturday (4 February), CNN announced that it had denied a request from Conway to appear on its popular State of the Union political show.

Conway 'ban' suggested

The American media critic and journalism professor Jay Rosen told the media and technology news website Recode that news outlets should stop interviewing Conway in her role as a representative of President Trump, as she is "routinely or easily contradicted" by him.

Instead, Rosen said, outlets should state that appearances by Conway and Sean Spicer were to "avoid criticism, or for entertainment value".

"Just be real about it and say, 'This isn't actually of journalistic value,'" Rosen told Recode. "'It has a different value and that's why we're putting it on the air.' Just don't pretend that this is a normal interview, with the normal rationale."

Conway, who was a pollster before becoming a key figure in Trump's election campaign, was previously mocked for coining the phrase "alternative facts" to describe false statements given by the White House press secretary Sean Spicer during media briefings about attendees at Trump's inauguration.