🔗 Share this article The President's Dismissal on Journalist's Murder Signals a New Low. “Stuff occurs.” A mere phrase. That was enough for the US president to brush off what is probably the most infamous journalist killing of the last decade – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for journalists, for the media – and for the facts. Background Details The US president’s dismissal 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 murder – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was drugged and dismembered – was approved at the highest levels. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings. International Response For a brief period, nations were unified in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States imposed sanctions and travel restrictions in that year over the killing, although it refrained of penalizing Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the nation has been gradually restoring itself – and the crown prince’s visit to the US capital seemed to be the ultimate sign of that redemption. White House Remarks Critics of the government had roundly condemned the visit. But what was on display at the White House was worse than could have been anticipated. Not only did the president honor Prince Mohammed but he seemed to alter the facts – and then pointed fingers at the victim. The crown prince, Trump asserted when asked, was unaware about the murder – in clear opposition to what his country’s own intelligence services concluded previously. Moreover, Trump said: “Many individuals didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or disapproved, incidents occur.” Established Conduct This represents a new and abject low for a leader who has made little secret of his disdain for the truth – or for the press. Trump has defamed journalists (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the question about the journalist at the media event “fake news”), berated them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), taken legal action against media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to lose their licenses. He has forced established media out of the White House press pool for refusing to use terminology of his choosing, and he has slashed funding for essential public media at home and crucial free press internationally. Wider Consequences All of that has created an atmosphere in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed killing – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but tolerated (“many individuals disliked that gentleman”). It is no surprise that that year was the most lethal year on file for the press in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been documenting this information: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those responsible for journalist killings has created a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are actually able to escape punishment and so persist in these actions. In no place is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the killing of more than 200 journalists in the recent period. Effect on Society The effect on society is deep. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are violations of our rights to know and on our freedom to live freely and safely. This week, CPJ gathers for its annual International Press Freedom awards. My message at the event is the identical as my message for Trump: these things may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.