🔗 Share this article

“Stuff occurs.” Just two words. That was enough for the US president to effectively dismiss what is arguably the most notorious journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for journalists, for the media – and for the facts.

The Context

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

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to conclude the homicide – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old journalist was sedated and cut apart – was signed off at the top echelons. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a short time, governments were in agreement in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The US enacted penalties and travel restrictions in 2021 over the murder, although it stopped short of penalizing Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the regime had strongly criticized the visit. But what was on display at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did the president honor Prince Mohammed but he seemed to alter the facts – and then blamed the deceased. Prince Mohammed, he asserted when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in clear opposition to what his country’s own intelligence services determined previously. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals didn’t like that gentleman 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 contempt for the facts – or for the media. He has defamed journalists (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the question about the journalist at the Saudi press conference “false information”), scolded them in public (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his connection with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued news outlets for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets 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 gutted funding for essential public media at domestically and vital independent media abroad.

Broader Implications

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

It is no surprise that 2024 was the most lethal year on file for the press in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been tracking this information: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those accountable for reporter murders has established a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are literally able to escape punishment and so continue to do so.

In no place is this more evident than in Israel, which is accountable for the deaths of over two hundred journalists in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The effect on the public is profound. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our liberty to live freely and securely.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its annual global journalism honors. My message at the event is the identical as my one for Trump: such events may occur. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.