The President's Dismissal regarding Journalist's Murder Signals a Disturbing Development.

“Incidents take place.” Just two words. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is probably 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 journalists, for the media – and for the truth.

Background Details

The US president’s dismissal of the killing of prominent journalist the Washington Post columnist came during a press conference with the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a 2021 report had ordered the kidnap and killing of the Washington Post columnist in 2018. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services were not the sole entities to determine the murder – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the late Khashoggi was sedated and dismembered – was approved at the top echelons. An inquiry led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a short time, governments were unified in their condemnation of the kingdom’s conduct. The United States enacted penalties and travel restrictions in 2021 over the murder, although it refrained of penalizing Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually restoring itself – and the leader’s trip to Washington seemed to be the ultimate sign of that rehabilitation.

White House Remarks

Opponents of the regime had strongly criticized the visit. But what was on display at the White House was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did the president fete the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter history – 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 determined four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or disapproved, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This represents a new and abject low for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his disdain for the facts – or for the press. He has defamed reporters (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the question about Khashoggi at the media event “false information”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his connection with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), taken legal action against news outlets for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets he doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has pressured established media out of the White House press pool for declining to use language of his choosing, and he has gutted funding for vital news services at domestically and vital independent media abroad.

Wider Consequences

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 unimportant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“a lot of people disliked that person”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the deadliest year on file for journalists in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this information: a ongoing neglect to hold those accountable for reporter murders has established a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers are literally able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

In no place is this clearer than in Israel, which is accountable for the killing of more than 200 media workers in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The effect on society is profound. Targeting reporters are assaults on facts. They are undermining of reality. They are violations of our entitlement to information and on our liberty to exist without fear and safely.

On Thursday, CPJ gathers for its annual global journalism honors. My message at the event is the identical as my one for Trump: these things may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.