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

The Context

The American leader’s dismissal of the murder of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a recent assessment had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the Washington Post columnist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to conclude the homicide – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the late Khashoggi was sedated and dismembered – was signed off at the highest levels. An inquiry led by then UN special rapporteur, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a brief period, governments were in agreement in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The US enacted penalties and visa bans in that year over the murder, although it stopped short of sanctioning the crown prince himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to Washington seemed to be the ultimate sign of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the government had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was evident at the White House was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did the president fete the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter history – and then blamed the deceased. The crown prince, he claimed when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in clear opposition to what his country’s own intelligence services determined previously. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.”

Established Conduct

This marks a fresh and shameful low for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the facts – or for the press. Trump has smeared journalists (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the inquiry about the journalist at the media event “fake news”), berated them in public (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his connection with the convicted sex offender financier the convicted criminal), sued media organizations for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets he doesn’t like to lose their licenses.

He has forced established media out of the White House press pool for declining to use language of his preference, and he has gutted financial support for vital news services at home and vital independent media internationally.

Broader Implications

All of that has fostered an environment in which journalists are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their victimization – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“many individuals disliked that person”).

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the most lethal year on file for journalists in the over three decades the press freedom organization has been documenting this data: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those responsible for journalist killings has created a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are actually able to escape punishment and so persist in these actions.

In no place is this more evident than in Israel, which is responsible for the killing of more than 200 media workers in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The effect on the public is profound. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our liberty to live freely and safely.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its annual International Press Freedom awards. The statement at the event is the identical as my one for Trump: such events may occur. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.