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“Incidents take place.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for the US president to brush off what is arguably the most infamous murder of a reporter of the last decade – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for the press, for journalism – and for the truth.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissal of the murder of prominent journalist the Washington Post columnist came during a media briefing with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the US intelligence found in a 2021 report had orchestrated the kidnap and killing of the journalist in 2018. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to conclude the murder – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the 59-year-old journalist was drugged and dismembered – was approved at the highest levels. An inquiry led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a brief period, nations were unified in their condemnation of the kingdom’s conduct. The US imposed sanctions and travel restrictions in 2021 over the murder, although it refrained of sanctioning the crown prince himself. Since then, the nation has been gradually restoring itself – and the leader’s trip to Washington seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the government had roundly condemned the visit. But what was evident at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been anticipated. Not only did the president honor Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote history – and then blamed the deceased. The crown prince, Trump claimed when asked, knew nothing about the killing – 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 approve of him or disapproved, things happen.”

Established Conduct

This represents a fresh and shameful point for a leader who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the facts – or for the media. He has smeared reporters (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the question about the journalist at the Saudi press conference “false information”), berated them in open settings (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 eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to lose their licenses.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the White House press pool for declining to use terminology of his choosing, and he has slashed financial support for essential public media at home and vital independent media abroad.

Broader Implications

All of that has created an environment in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the United States, but one in which their victimization – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“a lot of people disliked that person”).

It is no surprise that that year was the most lethal year on record for journalists in the over three decades the press freedom organization has been tracking this information: a persistent failure to bring to justice those accountable for reporter murders has created a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers are literally able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

In no place is this clearer than in Israel, which is responsible for the killing of over two hundred journalists in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The impact on the public is profound. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are violations of our entitlement to information and on our liberty 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 one for the president: such events may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.