White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders (Screenshot)

(CNSNews.com) - White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday that members of the press had a “huge responsibility” for the current divisive climate in the United States.



“You guys have a huge responsibility to play in the divisive nature of this country when 90 percent of the coverage of everything this president does is negative, despite the fact that this country is doing extremely well, despite the fact that the president is delivering on exactly what he said he was going to do if elected,” Sanders said at the briefing, which grew contentious at times.





Sanders was referring to an analysis done by the Media Research Center, parent company of CNSNews.com, which showed that 92 percent of reporting on President Trump by mainstream media sources is negative.



Sanders’ remarks came after members of mainstream media outlets blamed U.S. President Donald Trump’s political rhetoric for recent bomb threats and the Oct. 27 shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue that left 11 people dead and six wounded.

Sanders pointed out that Trump condemned the attacks while the media tried to “make him responsible” for them.



“The very first thing that the president did was condemn the attacks, both in Pittsburgh and in the pipe bombs. The very first thing the media did was blame the president and make him responsible for these ridiculous acts,” Sanders said.



She added that the only people responsible for the “heinous acts” were those who directly committed them, drawing a parallel to the shooting of Republican congressmen at a baseball field last year by a supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).





“The only person responsible for carrying out either of these heinous acts were the individuals who carried them out. It’s not the president, no more than it was Bernie Sanders’ fault for the individual who shot up a baseball field of congressional Republicans. You can’t start putting the responsibility of individuals on anybody but the individual who carries out the crime,” the press secretary said.



Sanders also addressed the president’s attacks on the press, attempting to clarify Trump’s meaning when he calls the press “the enemy of the people.”



“The president’s not referencing all media. He’s talking about the growing amount of fake news that exists in the country, and the president’s calling that out,” she said, adding that the president was apparently only speaking about individual members of the press and not entire news outlets.



“I’m not going to walk through a list, but I think those individuals probably know who they are,” Sanders said.



Sanders concluded the press briefing by expressing hope that the media would choose to occasionally recognize some of the positive aspects of Trump’s presidency.



“The president has been delivering day-in, day-out, and I think it would be nice if, every once in a while, we could focus on a few of the positive things the president has done instead of just attacking him,” she said.