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“Incidents take place.” Just two words. That was enough for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is arguably the most notorious murder of a reporter of the last decade – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for journalists, for the media – and for the facts.

Background Details

The US president’s dismissal 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 recent assessment had ordered the kidnap and killing of the journalist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to determine the homicide – which occurred in the Saudi diplomatic building in Istanbul and in which the late journalist was drugged and dismembered – was approved at the top echelons. An inquiry led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, nations were unified in their condemnation of the kingdom’s conduct. The US enacted sanctions and visa bans in 2021 over the murder, although it refrained of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the regime had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was evident at the White House was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did the president fete Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote history – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. Prince Mohammed, Trump claimed when asked, knew nothing about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s intelligence services concluded previously. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Established Conduct

This marks a fresh and shameful point for a leader who has made little secret of his disdain for the facts – or for the media. Trump has defamed reporters (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the inquiry about Khashoggi at the Saudi press conference “fake news”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his relationship with the convicted sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued news outlets for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has forced veteran news services out of the official briefing group for declining to use terminology of his preference, and he has slashed funding for essential public media at domestically and vital independent media abroad.

Broader Implications

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 unimportant (“things happen”) but tolerated (“many individuals disliked that person”).

It is no surprise that that year was the most lethal year on file for the press in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been tracking this information: a persistent failure to hold those responsible 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 more evident than in Israel, which is accountable for the killing of more than 200 media workers in the recent period.

Societal Impact

The impact on the public is profound. Targeting reporters are assaults on facts. They are attacks on facts. They are violations of our entitlement to information and on our liberty to exist without fear and securely.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. The statement at the event is the same as my one for Trump: these things may occur. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.