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“Things happen.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for the US president to brush off what is arguably 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 journalism – and for the truth.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the killing of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a 2021 report had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the journalist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to determine the murder – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the late journalist was drugged and cut apart – was approved at the top echelons. An investigation led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, governments were unified in their condemnation of the kingdom’s conduct. The US imposed penalties and visa bans in that year over the killing, although it refrained of sanctioning Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to Washington seemed to be the ultimate sign of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the government had strongly criticized the visit. But what was evident at the White House was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did the president honor Prince Mohammed but he seemed to alter history – and then pointed fingers at the victim. Prince Mohammed, Trump asserted when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in clear opposition to what his nation’s spy agencies concluded previously. Moreover, Trump said: “Many individuals disliked that person that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.”

Established Conduct

This represents a fresh and shameful point for a leader who has made little secret of his contempt for the truth – or for the press. He has defamed reporters (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the question about Khashoggi at the media event “fake news”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his connection with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), sued news outlets for large amounts of money in frivolous cases, and called for news outlets he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the White House press pool for refusing to use terminology of his choosing, and he has gutted financial support for essential public media at domestically and crucial free press internationally.

Broader Implications

All of that has created an atmosphere in which journalists are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“things happen”) but tolerated (“a lot of people didn’t like that person”).

It is no surprise 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 ongoing neglect to hold those accountable for journalist killings has created a environment without consequences 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 the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the deaths of over two hundred media workers in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The effect on society is deep. Attacks on journalists are assaults on facts. They are attacks on facts. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our liberty to exist without fear and safely.

On Thursday, CPJ meets for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. My message there is the same as my one for Trump: these things may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.