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“Things happen.” Just two words. That was enough for the US president to brush off what is probably the most infamous journalist killing 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.

The Context

The US president’s dismissive attitude of the murder of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a 2021 report had orchestrated the abduction and murder 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 took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was sedated and cut apart – was signed off at the top echelons. An inquiry led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, governments were unified in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US enacted penalties and visa bans in that year over the murder, although it refrained 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 rehabilitation.

White House Remarks

Opponents of the regime had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was on display at the White House was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did the president honor the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then blamed the victim. The crown prince, he asserted when asked, knew nothing about the murder – in clear opposition 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 disapproved, incidents occur.”

Established Conduct

This marks a new and abject point for a president who has made little secret of his disdain for the truth – or for the media. Trump has defamed reporters (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the question about the journalist at the Saudi press conference “false information”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his connection with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), sued news outlets for eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to lose their licenses.

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

Wider Consequences

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

It is no surprise that 2024 was the most lethal year on record for the press in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this information: a persistent failure to hold those responsible for reporter murders has established a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are actually able to escape punishment and so continue to do so.

In no place is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is responsible for the killing of over two hundred journalists in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The impact on society is profound. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are violations of our entitlement to information and on our freedom to exist without fear and securely.

This week, CPJ gathers for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. My message at the event is the same as my message for Trump: these things may occur. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.