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“Stuff occurs.” Just two words. That was enough for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss 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 the press, for the media – and for the facts.

Background Details

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

The US intelligence services were not the only ones to determine the homicide – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was sedated and dismembered – was approved at the highest levels. An investigation led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a brief period, governments were in agreement in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US enacted sanctions and travel restrictions in 2021 over the murder, although it refrained of sanctioning the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually restoring itself – and the crown prince’s visit to Washington seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

White House Remarks

Opponents of the regime had roundly condemned the visit. But what was on display at the White House was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did the president honor Prince Mohammed but he seemed to alter history – and then pointed fingers at the victim. Prince Mohammed, Trump asserted when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own intelligence services determined previously. Moreover, Trump 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 no attempt to hide of his contempt for the facts – or for the media. He has defamed reporters (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the inquiry about the journalist at the Saudi press conference “fake news”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his relationship with the convicted sex offender financier the convicted criminal), sued news outlets 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 language of his preference, and he has gutted funding for vital news services at home and crucial free press internationally.

Wider Consequences

All of that has fostered an environment in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but tolerated (“many individuals didn’t like that person”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the deadliest year on record for the press in the over three decades the press freedom organization has been documenting this data: a persistent failure to hold those accountable for reporter murders has established a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are literally able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

In no place is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the killing of over two hundred journalists in the recent period.

Societal Impact

The impact on the public is deep. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are violations of our rights to know and on our liberty to exist without fear and securely.

This week, CPJ meets for its annual International Press Freedom awards. My message there is the identical as my message for Trump: these things may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.