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“Incidents take place.” Just two words. That was enough for the US president to brush off what is probably the most notorious journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for journalists, for journalism – and for the facts.

Background Details

The American leader’s dismissal of the murder of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi came during a press conference with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the CIA found in a recent assessment had ordered the kidnap and killing of the Washington Post columnist in 2018. (The crown prince has denied involvement.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to determine the homicide – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was drugged and cut apart – was approved at the highest levels. An investigation led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, governments were in agreement in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US enacted sanctions and visa bans in 2021 over the murder, although it refrained of sanctioning the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to Washington seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the regime had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was on display at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been anticipated. Not only did Trump fete the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter history – and then blamed the deceased. Prince Mohammed, Trump claimed when asked, knew nothing about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own spy agencies determined previously. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people disliked that person that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or disapproved, things happen.”

Established Conduct

This represents a fresh and shameful low for a leader who has made no attempt to hide of his disdain for the truth – or for the media. Trump has smeared reporters (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the question about Khashoggi at the Saudi press conference “fake news”), berated them in public (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his relationship with the convicted sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein), taken legal action against media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, and called for media groups he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has forced established media out of the White House press pool for declining to use language of his preference, and he has gutted funding for essential public media at home and crucial free press internationally.

Wider Consequences

All of that has fostered an atmosphere in which reporters are clearly more vulnerable in the United States, but one in which their targeting – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“things happen”) but tolerated (“many individuals disliked that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the most lethal year on file for journalists in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this information: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those responsible for journalist killings has established a environment without consequences in which those who murder reporters are literally able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

In no place is this more evident than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is responsible for the deaths of over two hundred journalists in the past two years.

Societal Impact

The impact on the public is profound. Attacks on journalists are assaults on facts. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our freedom to exist without fear and safely.

This week, CPJ meets for its yearly global journalism honors. My message at the event is the identical as my message for the president: such events may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.