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“Stuff occurs.” A mere phrase. That was enough for the US president to brush off what is probably the most infamous journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward the press, for the media – and for the facts.

The Context

The US president’s dismissive attitude of the murder of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the US intelligence found in a 2021 report had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the Washington Post columnist in 2018. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The US intelligence services were not the sole entities to determine the homicide – which occurred in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the 59-year-old journalist was sedated and dismembered – was signed off at the top echelons. An investigation led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a short time, nations were in agreement in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The US imposed penalties and travel restrictions in that year over the killing, although it stopped short of sanctioning the crown prince himself. Since then, the nation has been gradually restoring itself – and the crown prince’s visit to Washington seemed to be the ultimate sign of that rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the regime had strongly criticized the visit. But what was on display at the White House was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did Trump honor Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then blamed the deceased. The crown prince, he claimed when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in clear opposition to what his country’s own spy agencies concluded previously. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or disapproved, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a fresh and shameful point for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his disdain for the facts – or for the media. Trump has smeared journalists (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the inquiry about Khashoggi at the media event “false information”), berated them in public (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his relationship with the convicted sex offender financier the convicted criminal), taken legal action against news outlets for eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, and called for news outlets he disapproves of to lose their licenses.

He has forced established media out of the official briefing group for declining to use terminology of his choosing, and he has gutted financial support for essential public media at home and vital independent media abroad.

Wider Consequences

All of that has fostered an environment in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the United States, but one in which their targeting – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but tolerated (“many individuals disliked that person”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the most lethal year on record for the press in the over three decades the press freedom organization has been documenting this information: a persistent failure to bring to justice those responsible for journalist killings has established a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are literally able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this clearer than in Israel, which is accountable for the killing of over two hundred journalists in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The impact on the public is deep. Attacks on journalists are assaults on facts. They are attacks on facts. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our freedom to live freely and securely.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its annual global journalism honors. My message at the event is the identical as my message for the president: these things may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.