The President's Dismissal regarding Journalist's Murder Represents a New Low.

“Things happen.” Just two words. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is arguably the most infamous journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for journalists, for journalism – and for the facts.

The Context

The US president’s dismissive attitude of the murder of prominent journalist the Washington Post columnist 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 kidnap and killing of the Washington Post columnist in that year. (The crown prince has denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services were not the sole entities to determine the murder – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and dismembered – was signed off at the highest levels. An inquiry led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.

Global Reactions

For a short time, nations were in agreement in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States enacted penalties and travel restrictions in 2021 over the murder, although it refrained of sanctioning Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to Washington seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

White House Remarks

Opponents of the government had roundly condemned the visit. But what was evident at the White House was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did the president honor the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then blamed the victim. Prince Mohammed, he claimed when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own spy agencies concluded previously. Moreover, Trump said: “A lot of people didn’t like that person 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 low for a president who has made little secret of his disdain for the truth – or for the media. He has defamed journalists (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the inquiry about Khashoggi at the Saudi press conference “fake news”), berated them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his connection with the convicted sex offender financier the convicted criminal), sued media organizations for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has pressured established media out of the White House press pool for declining to use terminology of his choosing, and he has slashed funding for vital news services at home and vital independent media internationally.

Wider Consequences

All of that has created an atmosphere in which journalists are clearly more vulnerable in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“many individuals disliked that gentleman”).

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 data: a persistent failure to bring to justice those responsible for journalist killings has established a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers are literally able to escape punishment and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is responsible for the killing of more than 200 journalists in the recent period.

Societal Impact

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

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. My message there is the identical as my message for Trump: such events may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.