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“Incidents take place.” A mere phrase. That was enough for the US president to brush off what is arguably the most infamous journalist killing 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 dismissive attitude of the murder of prominent journalist the Washington Post columnist came during a press conference with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a recent assessment had orchestrated the kidnap and killing of the journalist in 2018. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services were not the only ones to determine the murder – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old journalist was drugged and dismembered – was approved at the highest levels. An investigation led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a brief period, nations were unified in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States enacted sanctions and visa bans in 2021 over the murder, although it refrained of sanctioning Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the nation has been gradually restoring 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 roundly condemned the meeting. But what was on display at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did Trump honor Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then pointed fingers at the victim. Prince Mohammed, Trump claimed when asked, was unaware about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s intelligence services determined previously. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.”

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 journalists (he called ABC news, whose journalist 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 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 doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has forced veteran news services out of the White House press pool for declining to use language of his choosing, and he has gutted funding for essential public media at home and vital independent media internationally.

Broader Implications

All of that has created an environment in which reporters are clearly more vulnerable in the United States, but one in which their victimization – and indeed killing – becomes not just unimportant (“things happen”) but tolerated (“a lot of people disliked that gentleman”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the most lethal year on file for journalists in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this data: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those accountable for reporter murders has established a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers are actually able to escape punishment and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is responsible for the deaths of over two hundred journalists in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The effect on the public is profound. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our liberty to exist without fear and securely.

This week, CPJ meets for its annual International Press Freedom awards. The statement there is the identical as my one for the president: such events may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.