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“Things happen.” Just two words. That’s all it took for the US president to brush off what is arguably the most infamous journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his disregard toward the press, for journalism – and for the truth.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the killing of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a recent assessment had ordered the kidnap and killing of the Washington Post columnist in that year. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to determine the murder – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and cut apart – was approved at the top echelons. An inquiry led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a short time, governments were unified in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US enacted penalties and travel restrictions in that year over the killing, although it stopped short of sanctioning Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to Washington seemed to be the ultimate sign of that rehabilitation.

White House Remarks

Critics of the regime had roundly condemned the meeting. 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 effectively rewrote history – and then blamed the deceased. Prince Mohammed, Trump claimed when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s spy agencies concluded four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or disapproved, incidents occur.”

Established Conduct

This represents a fresh and shameful point for a president who has made little secret of his contempt for the truth – or for the media. He has smeared reporters (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the inquiry about Khashoggi at the Saudi press conference “false information”), berated them in public (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his relationship with the convicted sex offender financier the convicted criminal), sued media organizations for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets he disapproves of to lose their licenses.

He has pressured established media out of the White House press pool for declining to use language of his preference, and he has gutted financial support for vital news services at domestically and vital independent media internationally.

Wider Consequences

All of that has created an environment in which journalists are manifestly less safe in the United States, but one in which their targeting – and indeed killing – becomes not just unimportant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“a lot of people didn’t like that person”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the most lethal year on record for journalists in the over three decades the press freedom organization has been documenting this information: a persistent failure to bring to justice those responsible for reporter murders has established a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are actually able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this clearer than in Israel, which is accountable for the deaths of more than 200 media workers in the recent period.

Effect on Society

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

On Thursday, CPJ gathers for its annual global journalism honors. My message at the event is the same as my message for the president: such events may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.