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“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 last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for journalists, for the media – and for the truth.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the killing of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi came during a press conference with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the CIA found in a recent assessment had ordered the abduction and murder of the journalist in 2018. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.)

The US intelligence services were not the only ones to determine the homicide – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and dismembered – was approved at the highest levels. An investigation led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, nations were in agreement in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States enacted penalties and visa bans in that year over the killing, although it refrained 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.

White House Remarks

Opponents of the government had strongly criticized the visit. But what was evident at the presidential residence was worse than could have been anticipated. Not only did Trump fete the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter the facts – and then pointed fingers at the victim. The crown prince, Trump claimed when asked, was unaware about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s spy agencies concluded four years ago. Moreover, Trump said: “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.”

Established Conduct

This marks a fresh and shameful low for a leader who has made little secret of his disdain for the facts – or for the media. He has smeared reporters (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the inquiry about Khashoggi at the Saudi press conference “fake news”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his connection with the convicted sex offender financier the convicted criminal), 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 forced veteran news services out of the White House press pool for declining to use terminology of his choosing, and he has gutted financial support for essential public media at domestically and vital independent media abroad.

Broader Implications

All of that has fostered an environment in which journalists are clearly more vulnerable in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“many individuals disliked that person”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the deadliest year on record for the press in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this information: a persistent failure to bring to justice those responsible for reporter murders has established a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are literally able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Israel, which is accountable for the killing of over two hundred media workers in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The effect on the public is deep. Targeting reporters are assaults on facts. They are attacks on facts. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our liberty to live freely and safely.

On Thursday, CPJ gathers for its annual global journalism honors. My message at the event is the identical as my one for the president: these things may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.