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“Things happen.” Just two words. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to brush off what is arguably the most notorious journalist killing of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward journalists, for journalism – and for the facts.

The Context

The US president’s dismissive attitude of the killing of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a press conference with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the US intelligence found in a 2021 report had orchestrated the kidnap and killing of the journalist in 2018. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The US intelligence services were not the only ones to determine the murder – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the 59-year-old journalist was drugged and dismembered – was signed off at the highest levels. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

Global Reactions

For a short time, governments were unified in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The United States imposed sanctions and travel restrictions in 2021 over the murder, although it refrained of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the ultimate sign of that rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the government had strongly criticized the visit. But what was evident at the presidential residence was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did the president fete Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then blamed the deceased. The crown prince, Trump claimed when asked, was unaware about the killing – in clear opposition to what his nation’s spy agencies determined previously. Moreover, Trump said: “Many individuals didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or disapproved, incidents occur.”

Established Conduct

This represents a new and abject low for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the facts – or for the media. He has smeared journalists (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the inquiry about Khashoggi at the Saudi press conference “false information”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his connection with the convicted sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued news outlets for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets he disapproves of to lose their licenses.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the official briefing group for declining to use language of his choosing, and he has slashed financial support for essential public media at domestically and vital independent media abroad.

Broader Implications

All of that has created an environment in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the United States, but one in which their targeting – and indeed killing – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but tolerated (“a lot of people didn’t like that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the most lethal year on record for journalists in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this data: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those responsible for journalist killings has established a environment without consequences in which those who murder reporters are literally able to escape punishment and so continue to do so.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the killing of more than 200 media workers in the recent period.

Societal Impact

The impact on the public is deep. Attacks on journalists are assaults on facts. They are undermining of reality. They are violations of our entitlement to information and on our liberty to live freely and securely.

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