Obama meets with family of reporter killed by Islamic State
By Associated Press
May 28, 2015 12:58 PM CDT
In this photo taken Sept. 3, 2014, President Barack Obama pauses while speaking about U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff, killed by Islamic State militants, in Tallinn, Estonia. The president has met with the family of an American journalist who was killed last year by the Islamic State group. Steven Sotloff...   (Associated Press)

MIAMI (AP) — President Barack Obama has met with the family of an American journalist who was killed last year by the Islamic State group.

Steven Sotloff was a 31-year-old Miami-area native who freelanced for Time and Foreign Policy magazines. He had vanished in Syria, and then last September, militants released a video showing Sotloff's beheading.

The White House says that during a trip to Florida on Thursday, Obama met with the reporter's parents, Art and Shirley Sotloff, and sister Lauren.

The White House says Obama appreciated hearing more about Sotloff's work as a journalist and that the family spoke of Sotloff's passion for reporting the stories of people who are suffering.

Obama also recognized the foundation the family has formed in Sotloff's memory to support journalists reporting from conflict torn areas.