🔗 Share this article

“Stuff occurs.” Just two words. That’s all it took for the US president to effectively dismiss what is arguably the most infamous murder of a reporter of the past ten years – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his disregard toward the press, for the media – and for the truth.

The Context

The US president’s dismissal of the killing of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a press conference with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the CIA found in a recent assessment had ordered the kidnap and killing of the journalist in 2018. (The crown prince has denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services were not the sole entities to conclude the homicide – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and cut apart – was approved 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 criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US imposed penalties and visa bans in 2021 over the killing, although it stopped short of sanctioning Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the ultimate sign of that redemption.

White House Remarks

Opponents of the regime had strongly criticized the visit. But what was evident at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did Trump fete Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then blamed the deceased. Prince Mohammed, he asserted when asked, was unaware about the murder – in clear opposition to what his nation’s intelligence services concluded previously. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Established Conduct

This marks a fresh and shameful low for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the facts – or for the media. Trump has defamed reporters (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the inquiry about the journalist at the media event “fake news”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his relationship with the convicted sex offender financier the convicted criminal), sued news outlets for large amounts of money in frivolous cases, and called for news outlets he doesn’t like to lose their licenses.

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 vital news services at home and crucial free press abroad.

Broader Implications

All of that has fostered an environment in which reporters are clearly more vulnerable in the United States, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but tolerated (“many individuals didn’t like that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the most lethal year on file for the press in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this information: a ongoing neglect to hold those responsible for reporter murders has established a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers are actually able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the deaths of over two hundred journalists in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The impact on the public is deep. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our liberty to exist without fear and securely.

This week, CPJ gathers for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. The statement there is the identical as my message for the president: these things may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.