🔗 Share this article

“Stuff occurs.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is probably the most infamous murder of a reporter of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for journalists, for the media – and for the truth.

Background Details

The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the killing of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a press conference with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the CIA concluded in a 2021 report had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the Washington Post columnist in 2018. (The crown prince has denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services were not the sole entities to conclude the homicide – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the late journalist was sedated and dismembered – was signed off at the highest levels. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

Global Reactions

For a short time, nations were unified in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States imposed penalties and visa bans in that year over the killing, although it refrained of sanctioning Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

White House Remarks

Critics of the regime had roundly condemned the visit. But what was evident at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been anticipated. Not only did the president fete Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote history – and then blamed the deceased. The crown prince, he claimed when asked, was unaware about the killing – in clear opposition to what his nation’s intelligence services determined previously. Moreover, Trump said: “A lot of people didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Established Conduct

This represents a fresh and shameful point for a leader who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the facts – 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”), berated them in public (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his connection with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued media organizations for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has forced veteran news services out of the official briefing group for refusing to use language of his preference, and he has slashed funding for essential public media at domestically and vital independent media internationally.

Broader Implications

All of that has created an environment in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their victimization – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but tolerated (“a lot of people disliked that gentleman”).

It is no surprise that that year was the most lethal year on record for journalists in the over three decades the press freedom organization has been tracking this information: a ongoing neglect to hold those accountable for reporter murders has established a environment without consequences in which those who murder reporters are actually able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Israel, which is accountable for the killing of more than 200 journalists in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The impact on the public is profound. Targeting reporters are assaults on facts. They are undermining of reality. They are violations of our entitlement to information and on our liberty to live freely and safely.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. My message there is the same as my one for Trump: these things may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.