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“Incidents take place.” Just two words. That was enough for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is arguably the most notorious journalist killing of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for journalists, for the media – and for the truth.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the murder of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a press conference with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the CIA found in a 2021 report had orchestrated the kidnap and killing of the Washington Post columnist in 2018. (The crown prince 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 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 comparable findings.

International Response

For a brief period, nations were unified in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The US enacted penalties and visa bans in 2021 over the killing, although it stopped short of penalizing Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the government had roundly condemned the visit. But what was evident at the White House was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did the president fete Prince Mohammed but he seemed to alter the facts – and then blamed the deceased. The crown prince, he claimed when asked, was unaware about the killing – in clear opposition to what his country’s own spy agencies concluded four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals disliked that person that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Established Conduct

This marks a fresh and shameful point for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his disdain for the truth – or for the media. He has smeared reporters (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the inquiry about Khashoggi 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 convicted sex offender financier the convicted criminal), taken legal action against news outlets for eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, and called for media groups he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has forced veteran news services out of the White House press pool 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 United States, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“things happen”) but tolerated (“many individuals didn’t like that person”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the deadliest year on file for the press in the over three decades the press freedom organization has been tracking this information: a persistent failure to hold those accountable for journalist killings has created a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are actually able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this clearer than in Israel, which is responsible for the deaths of over two hundred media workers in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The impact on society is deep. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our freedom to live freely and safely.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its annual global journalism honors. My message there is the identical as my one for Trump: these things may occur. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.