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“Stuff occurs.” Just two words. That was enough for the US president to effectively dismiss what is arguably the most notorious murder of a reporter of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for the press, for journalism – and for the facts.

Background Details

The American leader’s dismissal of the killing of well-known reporter the Washington Post columnist came during a press conference with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the CIA concluded in a recent assessment had ordered the kidnap and killing of the Washington Post columnist in that year. (The crown prince has denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services were not the only ones to determine the homicide – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and cut apart – was approved at the highest levels. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

Global Reactions

For a short time, governments were in agreement 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 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 strongly criticized the visit. But what was evident 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 blamed the deceased. Prince Mohammed, he claimed when asked, knew nothing about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s spy agencies concluded four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a new and abject point for a leader who has made little secret of his disdain for the truth – or for the press. He has smeared reporters (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the inquiry about the journalist 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 the convicted criminal), taken legal action against news outlets for eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to lose their licenses.

He has pressured established media out of the official briefing group for declining to use language of his preference, and he has slashed funding for vital news services at home and crucial free press abroad.

Broader Implications

All of that has created an environment in which journalists are clearly more vulnerable in the United States, but one in which their targeting – and indeed killing – 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 record for the press in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this information: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those responsible for reporter murders has created a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers are actually able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

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

Societal Impact

The effect on the public is profound. 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 safely.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its annual International Press Freedom awards. My message at the event is the identical as my message for Trump: these things may occur. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.