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“Stuff occurs.” Just two words. That’s all it took for the US president to brush off what is arguably the most infamous murder of a reporter of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward journalists, for journalism – and for the truth.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissal of the murder of prominent journalist the Washington Post columnist came during a press conference with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the US intelligence found in a recent assessment had ordered the abduction and murder of the Washington Post columnist in that year. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to determine the murder – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was drugged and cut apart – was approved at the highest levels. An inquiry led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.

Global Reactions

For a short time, nations were unified in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States imposed penalties and travel restrictions in that year over the murder, although it refrained of sanctioning the crown prince himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

White House Remarks

Critics of the regime had strongly criticized the visit. But what was evident at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did the president fete Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote history – and then pointed fingers at the victim. The crown prince, Trump asserted when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in clear opposition to what his nation’s intelligence services determined previously. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This represents a new and abject point for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the truth – or for the media. He has defamed journalists (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the inquiry about the journalist at the media event “fake news”), scolded them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued news outlets for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets he doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the White House press pool for declining to use language of his preference, and he has slashed funding for vital news services at home and crucial free press abroad.

Wider Consequences

All of that has created an environment in which journalists are clearly more vulnerable in the US, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but tolerated (“many individuals disliked that person”).

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the most lethal year on record for the press in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this information: a persistent failure to hold those accountable for reporter murders has created a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are actually able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

In no place is this clearer than in Israel, which is accountable for the deaths of more than 200 media workers in the recent period.

Societal Impact

The impact on society is deep. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are violations of our entitlement to information and on our liberty to live freely and safely.

On Thursday, CPJ gathers for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. The statement at the event is the same as my one for the president: such events may occur. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.