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“Incidents take place.” Just two words. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is probably the most notorious murder of a reporter of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward journalists, for journalism – and for the truth.

The Context

The US president’s dismissive attitude of the murder of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a press conference with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the CIA found in a recent assessment had orchestrated the kidnap and killing 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 Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was drugged and dismembered – was signed off at the highest levels. An inquiry led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, nations were unified in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States enacted penalties and visa bans in that year over the killing, although it stopped short of sanctioning Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the nation has been gradually restoring itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

White House Remarks

Opponents of the government had strongly criticized the visit. 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 effectively rewrote history – and then blamed the deceased. The crown prince, he asserted when asked, was unaware about the murder – in clear opposition to what his nation’s spy agencies concluded previously. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a fresh and shameful low for a president who has made little secret of his disdain 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 media event “false information”), scolded them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his relationship with the convicted sex offender financier the convicted criminal), taken legal action against news outlets for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to lose their licenses.

He has forced veteran news services out of the official briefing group for refusing to use terminology of his choosing, and he has gutted funding for essential public media at domestically and crucial free press abroad.

Wider Consequences

All of that has created an atmosphere in which journalists are clearly more vulnerable in the United States, but one in which their targeting – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“many individuals didn’t like that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the deadliest year on file for journalists in the over three decades the press freedom organization has been documenting this information: a ongoing neglect to hold those responsible for journalist killings has established a culture of impunity 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 killing of more than 200 journalists in the recent period.

Societal Impact

The effect on the public is deep. Attacks on journalists are assaults on facts. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our liberty to exist without fear and securely.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its yearly global journalism honors. My message at the event is the same as my one for Trump: such events may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.