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“Stuff occurs.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is probably the most infamous murder of a reporter of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for the press, for journalism – and for the facts.

Background Details

The US president’s dismissive attitude of the murder of prominent journalist the Washington Post columnist came during a media briefing with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a 2021 report had orchestrated the kidnap and killing of the journalist in 2018. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to determine the homicide – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and dismembered – was approved at the top echelons. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a brief period, nations were unified in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US imposed sanctions and visa bans in 2021 over the killing, although it refrained of sanctioning the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to Washington seemed to be the ultimate sign of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the government had roundly condemned the visit. But what was evident at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been anticipated. Not only did the president honor Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote history – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. Prince Mohammed, Trump claimed when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s intelligence services determined previously. Moreover, Trump said: “A lot of people disliked that person that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a new and abject point for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the truth – or for the press. Trump has defamed reporters (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the question about Khashoggi at the Saudi press conference “false information”), scolded them in public (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his connection with the convicted sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein), taken legal action against media organizations for large amounts of money in frivolous cases, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has forced established media out of the official briefing group for declining to use terminology of his preference, and he has slashed financial support for essential public media at home and vital independent media internationally.

Broader Implications

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

It is no surprise that that year was the deadliest year on file for journalists in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this data: a persistent failure to hold those responsible for journalist killings has established a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are literally 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 deaths of more than 200 journalists in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The effect on the public 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 meets for its annual 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 do not.