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

Background Details

The US president’s dismissal of the murder of prominent journalist the Washington Post columnist came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the US intelligence found in a recent assessment had orchestrated the kidnap and killing of the journalist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to conclude the homicide – which occurred in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the late journalist was sedated and cut apart – was signed off at the highest levels. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, governments were in agreement in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States enacted sanctions and visa bans in that year over the killing, although it refrained of sanctioning Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to Washington seemed to be the ultimate sign of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the government had roundly condemned the visit. But what was on display at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been anticipated. Not only did the president fete Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then blamed the deceased. Prince Mohammed, he asserted when asked, was unaware about the killing – in clear opposition to what his country’s own spy agencies determined four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or disapproved, incidents occur.”

Established Conduct

This represents a new and abject point for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his disdain for the truth – or for the press. He has defamed reporters (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the question about the journalist at the Saudi press conference “fake news”), berated them in public (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), taken legal action against news outlets 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 refusing to use terminology of his choosing, and he has gutted financial support for vital news services at home and vital independent media abroad.

Broader Implications

All of that has fostered an environment in which journalists are clearly more vulnerable in the United States, but one in which their targeting – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“a lot of people didn’t like that person”).

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the deadliest year on file for journalists in the over three decades the press freedom organization has been documenting this data: a persistent failure to bring to justice those accountable for reporter murders has established a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are actually able to get away with murder 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 over two hundred journalists in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The impact on the public is deep. Attacks on journalists are assaults on facts. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our freedom to exist without fear and securely.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its yearly global journalism honors. My message there is the identical as my one for Trump: these things may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.