🔗 Share this article

“Incidents take place.” Just two words. That was enough for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is arguably the most notorious murder of a reporter of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for journalists, for journalism – and for the truth.

The Context

The US president’s dismissive attitude of the murder of well-known reporter the Washington Post columnist came during a press conference with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the CIA found in a 2021 report had ordered 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 murder – which occurred in the Saudi diplomatic building in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was drugged and dismembered – was signed off at the top echelons. An inquiry led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a short time, governments were in agreement in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States enacted penalties and visa bans in 2021 over the killing, although it stopped short of sanctioning Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the nation has been gradually restoring itself – and the crown prince’s visit to Washington 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 White House was worse than could have been anticipated. Not only did Trump honor the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then blamed the deceased. Prince Mohammed, Trump claimed when asked, was unaware about the killing – in clear opposition to what his country’s own intelligence services concluded previously. Moreover, Trump said: “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or disapproved, incidents occur.”

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. Trump has smeared journalists (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the question about Khashoggi at the Saudi press conference “false information”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his connection with the convicted sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued news outlets for large amounts of money in frivolous cases, and called for media groups he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has pressured established media out of the official briefing group for refusing to use terminology of his preference, and he has gutted funding for essential public media at domestically and vital independent media abroad.

Broader Implications

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 (“things happen”) but acceptable (“a lot of people didn’t like that person”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the deadliest year on file for the press in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this data: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those accountable for journalist killings has created a environment without consequences in which those who murder reporters are literally able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

In no place is this more evident than in Israel, which is responsible for the deaths of more than 200 media workers in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The impact on the public is profound. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our freedom to live freely and securely.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its annual global journalism honors. The statement there is the same as my message for the president: such events may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.