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“Incidents take place.” Just two words. That was enough for the US president to effectively dismiss what is arguably the most notorious journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his disregard toward journalists, for journalism – and for the facts.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the killing of well-known reporter the Washington Post columnist came during a media briefing with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the CIA found in a recent assessment had orchestrated the kidnap and killing of the journalist in 2018. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.)

The US intelligence services were not the sole entities to determine the murder – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was sedated and dismembered – was signed off at the highest levels. An inquiry led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a brief period, nations were unified in their condemnation of the kingdom’s conduct. The US enacted penalties and travel restrictions in 2021 over the murder, although it refrained of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to the US capital seemed to be the ultimate sign of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the regime had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was evident at the presidential residence was worse than could have been anticipated. Not only did the president honor Prince Mohammed but he seemed to alter the facts – and then pointed fingers at the victim. Prince Mohammed, Trump claimed when asked, was unaware about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own spy agencies determined four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you like him or disapproved, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a fresh and shameful point for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the facts – or for the media. He has smeared reporters (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the question about the journalist 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 disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), taken legal action against media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he disapproves of to be shut down.

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

Wider Consequences

All of that has created an environment 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 disliked that person”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the most lethal year on file for the press in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this information: a persistent failure to hold those responsible for journalist killings has established a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are actually able to escape punishment and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is responsible for the deaths of more than 200 journalists in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The effect on the public is profound. Attacks on journalists 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, CPJ meets for its annual global journalism honors. The statement there is the identical as my message for Trump: these things may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.