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“Things happen.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to brush off 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 disregard toward the press, for the media – and for the truth.

The Context

The US president’s dismissal of the killing of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the US intelligence found in a recent assessment had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the Washington Post columnist in 2018. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to determine the homicide – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and cut apart – was signed off at the top echelons. An inquiry led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a brief period, governments were unified in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The United States imposed penalties and travel restrictions in 2021 over the murder, although it stopped short of sanctioning Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Critics 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 Trump fete Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote history – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. The crown prince, he claimed when asked, was unaware about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own intelligence services determined previously. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or disapproved, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a new and abject point for a leader who has made little secret of his disdain for the facts – or for the media. Trump has defamed journalists (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the question about Khashoggi at the Saudi press conference “fake news”), scolded them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), taken legal action against media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the official briefing group for declining to use language of his choosing, and he has gutted financial support for vital news services at domestically and crucial free press internationally.

Wider Consequences

All of that has fostered an atmosphere in which reporters are clearly more vulnerable in the US, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just insignificant (“things happen”) but tolerated (“many individuals disliked that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the deadliest 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 reporter murders has created a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers are actually able to escape punishment and so persist in these actions.

In no place is this clearer than in Israel, which is accountable for the killing of over two hundred journalists in the recent period.

Societal Impact

The effect on society is profound. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our freedom to live freely and safely.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. The statement at the event is the identical as my one for Trump: these things may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.