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“Incidents take place.” Just two words. That’s all it took for the US president to effectively dismiss what is arguably the most notorious murder of a reporter of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for journalists, for journalism – and for the facts.

Background Details

The American leader’s dismissal of the killing of prominent journalist the Washington Post columnist came during a press conference with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the CIA found in a 2021 report had ordered the kidnap and killing of the Washington Post columnist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services were not the only ones to conclude 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 highest levels. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a short time, governments were unified in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States imposed penalties and visa bans in 2021 over the killing, although it refrained of sanctioning the crown prince 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 rehabilitation.

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 Trump honor the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter the facts – and then blamed the victim. Prince Mohammed, he claimed when asked, was unaware about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own intelligence services determined four years ago. Moreover, Trump said: “A lot of people didn’t like that person 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 no attempt to hide of his contempt for the truth – or for the media. Trump has defamed reporters (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the inquiry about the journalist at the media event “fake news”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his relationship with the convicted sex offender financier the convicted criminal), sued news outlets for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets he doesn’t like to lose their licenses.

He has pressured established media out of the White House press pool for declining to use language of his choosing, and he has gutted financial support for essential public media at domestically and crucial free press abroad.

Broader Implications

All of that has fostered an atmosphere in which journalists are manifestly less safe in the United States, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“many individuals disliked that gentleman”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the deadliest year on file for the press in the over three decades the press freedom organization has been documenting this information: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those accountable for reporter murders has established a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are actually able to escape punishment and so continue to do so.

Nowhere 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 effect on society is deep. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our freedom to exist without fear and safely.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its yearly global journalism honors. My message there is the identical as my one for the president: such events may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.