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“Incidents take place.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is probably the most notorious journalist killing of the last decade – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his disregard toward journalists, for the media – and for the facts.

Background Details

The American leader’s dismissal 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 CIA concluded in a 2021 report had ordered the abduction and murder of the Washington Post columnist in 2018. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to determine the homicide – which occurred in the Saudi diplomatic building in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was sedated and cut apart – was signed off at the highest levels. An investigation led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a short time, nations were unified in their condemnation of the kingdom’s conduct. The US imposed sanctions and travel restrictions in that year over the killing, although it stopped short of penalizing Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually restoring itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

White House Remarks

Opponents of the government 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 the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter history – and then blamed the deceased. Prince Mohammed, he asserted when asked, was unaware about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own intelligence services concluded four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.”

Established Conduct

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 defamed journalists (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the inquiry about Khashoggi at the media event “false information”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his connection with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, 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 gutted funding for essential public media at domestically and crucial free press abroad.

Wider Consequences

All of that has fostered an atmosphere in which journalists are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“a lot of people didn’t like that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the deadliest year on file for journalists in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this information: a persistent failure to bring to justice those responsible for journalist killings has created 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 clearer than in Israel, which is accountable for the killing of over two hundred media workers in the past two years.

Societal Impact

The impact on society is profound. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our freedom to exist without fear and safely.

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