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“Stuff occurs.” A mere phrase. That was enough for the US president to effectively dismiss what is probably the most infamous murder of a reporter 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 dismissive attitude of the murder of well-known reporter the Washington Post columnist came during a press conference with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the CIA 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 murder – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the 59-year-old journalist was sedated and dismembered – was signed off at the highest levels. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a brief period, governments were in agreement in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The US enacted penalties and visa bans in 2021 over the killing, although it refrained of sanctioning Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to Washington seemed to be the ultimate sign of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the regime had strongly criticized the visit. But what was evident at the presidential residence was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did the president honor the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter the facts – and then blamed the deceased. Prince Mohammed, he asserted when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s spy agencies determined four years ago. Moreover, Trump said: “A lot of people disliked that person that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or disapproved, incidents occur.”

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 Khashoggi at the Saudi press conference “false information”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued news outlets for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he disapproves of to lose their licenses.

He has pressured established media out of the official briefing group for refusing to use language of his preference, and he has slashed financial support for essential public media at domestically and crucial free press abroad.

Wider Consequences

All of that has created an atmosphere in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just insignificant (“things happen”) but tolerated (“many individuals didn’t like that gentleman”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the most lethal year on record for the press in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been tracking this information: a ongoing neglect to hold those responsible for journalist killings has established a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are actually able to escape punishment and so continue to do so.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the deaths of more than 200 journalists in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The impact on the public is deep. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our liberty to live freely and securely.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. My message at the event is the same as my message for Trump: these things may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.