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“Stuff occurs.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for the US president to effectively dismiss what is probably the most notorious murder of a reporter of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for journalists, for the media – and for the facts.

The Context

The US president’s dismissive attitude of the murder of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi came during a press conference with the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the US intelligence found in a 2021 report had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the journalist in 2018. (The crown prince has denied involvement.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to determine the murder – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the late Khashoggi was sedated and dismembered – was approved at the highest levels. An investigation led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions.

Global Reactions

For a short time, nations were in agreement in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States imposed penalties and visa bans in that year over the killing, although it refrained of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

White House Remarks

Opponents of the regime had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was evident at the White House was more alarming than could have been anticipated. Not only did the president honor the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter history – and then blamed the victim. Prince Mohammed, Trump asserted when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own intelligence services determined four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you like him or disapproved, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This represents a new and abject point for a leader who has made no attempt to hide of his disdain for the truth – or for the media. He has defamed reporters (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the question about the journalist at the Saudi press conference “false information”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), taken legal action against media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the official briefing group for refusing to use language of his preference, and he has slashed financial support for vital news services at home and vital independent media abroad.

Wider Consequences

All of that has fostered an atmosphere in which journalists are manifestly less safe in the United States, but one in which their victimization – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but tolerated (“many individuals didn’t like that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the most lethal year on record for journalists in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this data: a persistent failure to hold those responsible for journalist killings has created a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers are actually able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Israel, which is accountable for the killing of over two hundred media workers in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The effect on society is profound. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are violations of our entitlement to information and on our freedom to live freely and safely.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. My message there is the same as my one for the president: such events may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.