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“Stuff occurs.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for the US president to brush off what is arguably the most infamous murder of a reporter of the past ten years – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for the press, for journalism – and for the facts.

The Context

The US president’s dismissal of the murder of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the US intelligence found in a 2021 report had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the journalist in 2018. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services were not the sole entities to determine the homicide – which occurred in the Saudi diplomatic building in Istanbul and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and dismembered – was signed off at the top echelons. An inquiry led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a brief period, nations were in agreement in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US enacted penalties and visa bans in 2021 over the killing, although it refrained of sanctioning the crown prince himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to the US capital seemed to be the ultimate sign of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the government had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was evident at the presidential residence was worse than could have been anticipated. Not only did Trump fete Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then blamed the deceased. The crown prince, he asserted when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in clear opposition to what his country’s own spy agencies concluded four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or disapproved, things happen.”

Established Conduct

This represents a new and abject point for a president who has made little secret of his contempt for the truth – or for the media. He has defamed journalists (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the question about the journalist at the media event “false information”), berated them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his relationship with the convicted sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued media organizations for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets he doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the official briefing group for declining to use terminology of his choosing, and he has gutted funding for essential public media at home and vital independent media abroad.

Broader Implications

All of that has created an atmosphere in which journalists are clearly more vulnerable in the United States, but one in which their victimization – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but tolerated (“a lot of people didn’t like that person”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the deadliest year on record for the press in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) 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 escape punishment and so persist in these actions.

In no place is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the killing of over two hundred media workers in the recent period.

Societal Impact

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

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its yearly global journalism honors. The statement at the event is the same as my message for the president: such events may occur. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.