🔗 Share this article The President's Dismissal regarding Journalist's Murder Signals a New Low. “Incidents take place.” Just two words. That was enough for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is probably the most notorious journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for the press, for journalism – and for the facts. The Context The US president’s dismissal 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 concluded in a 2021 report had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the Washington Post columnist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.) The American spy agencies were not the only ones to determine the murder – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was sedated and dismembered – was signed off at the highest levels. An investigation led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions. Global Reactions For a short time, nations were unified in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States enacted penalties and travel restrictions in that year over the murder, although it refrained of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption. Presidential Comments Critics of the government had roundly condemned the visit. But what was evident at the White House was more alarming than could have been anticipated. Not only did Trump honor the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote history – and then blamed the victim. Prince Mohammed, Trump asserted when asked, was unaware about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own spy agencies determined four years ago. Moreover, Trump said: “Many individuals didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen.” Pattern of Behavior This marks a fresh and shameful point for a president who has made little secret of his contempt for the truth – or for the press. Trump has defamed reporters (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the inquiry about the journalist at the Saudi press conference “fake news”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued media organizations for large amounts of money in frivolous cases, and called for media groups he disapproves of to be shut down. He has forced established media out of the White House press pool for refusing to use terminology of his choosing, and he has slashed financial support for vital news services at domestically and crucial free press internationally. Broader Implications All of that has fostered an atmosphere in which reporters are clearly more vulnerable in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed killing – becomes not just unimportant (“things happen”) but tolerated (“a lot of people didn’t like that person”). It is no surprise that that year was the most lethal year on record for the press in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this data: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those accountable for journalist killings has created a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are literally able to escape punishment and so continue to do so. In no place is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the killing of over two hundred journalists in the past two years. Societal Impact The impact on the public is profound. Attacks on journalists are assaults on facts. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our liberty to exist without fear and securely. On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its yearly global journalism honors. My message at the event is the same as my message for Trump: such events may occur. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.