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“Stuff occurs.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for the US president to effectively dismiss what is probably the most infamous journalist killing of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward the press, for journalism – and for the facts.

Background Details

The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the murder of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi 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 ordered the kidnap and killing of the journalist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to determine the murder – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the late journalist was sedated and cut apart – was signed off at the highest levels. An inquiry led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a short time, governments were in agreement in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States imposed penalties 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 crown prince’s visit to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the regime had strongly criticized 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 seemed to alter history – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. The crown prince, he asserted when asked, was unaware about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own spy agencies determined four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or disapproved, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a fresh and shameful low for a leader who has made little secret of his disdain for the facts – or for the press. He has defamed reporters (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the question about the journalist at the Saudi press conference “fake news”), scolded them in public (he called one a “rude name” 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 frivolous cases, and called for news outlets he disapproves of to lose their licenses.

He has forced veteran news services out of the official briefing group for declining to use language of his preference, and he has slashed funding for vital news services at domestically and crucial free press abroad.

Broader Implications

All of that has fostered 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 unimportant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“a lot of people didn’t like that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the deadliest year on record for journalists in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this data: a persistent failure to hold those accountable for reporter murders has established a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are literally able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the deaths of over two hundred journalists in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The impact on society is profound. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are violations of our entitlement to information and on our liberty to exist without fear and safely.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its annual International Press Freedom awards. My message there is the identical as my one for Trump: these things may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.