The President's Dismissal regarding Journalist's Murder Signals a New Low.

“Stuff occurs.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to brush off what is probably the most notorious journalist killing of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for the press, for the media – and for the facts.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissal of the killing of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a 2021 report had ordered the kidnap and killing of the Washington Post columnist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to conclude the homicide – which occurred in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and cut apart – was signed off at the top echelons. An inquiry led by then UN special rapporteur, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, nations were unified in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States enacted penalties and visa bans in that year over the murder, although it stopped short of sanctioning the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually restoring itself – and the crown prince’s visit to Washington seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the regime had strongly criticized the visit. But what was on display at the White House was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did the president fete the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then blamed the deceased. Prince Mohammed, he claimed when asked, was unaware about the murder – in clear opposition to what his country’s own spy agencies determined four years ago. 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 low for a leader who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the truth – or for the press. He has defamed reporters (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the question about the journalist at the media event “false information”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), sued media organizations for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets he disapproves of to lose their licenses.

He has forced veteran news services out of the official briefing group for declining to use terminology of his choosing, and he has gutted financial support for essential public media at domestically and crucial free press internationally.

Wider Consequences

All of that has created an atmosphere in which reporters are clearly more vulnerable in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but tolerated (“a lot of people disliked that gentleman”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the deadliest year on record for the press in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this information: a persistent failure to hold those responsible for journalist killings has established a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers are actually able to escape punishment and so continue to do so.

In no place is this more evident than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is responsible for the killing of over two hundred journalists in the past two years.

Societal Impact

The impact on society is deep. Targeting reporters are assaults on facts. They are attacks on facts. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our freedom to exist without fear and safely.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its yearly global journalism honors. My message there is the identical as my one for Trump: such events may occur. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.