🔗 Share this article

“Stuff occurs.” A mere phrase. That was enough for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is probably the most notorious murder of a reporter of the past ten years – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his disregard toward the press, for journalism – and for the truth.

The Context

The US president’s dismissal of the murder of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the CIA found in a recent assessment had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the journalist in that year. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to conclude the murder – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the late journalist was sedated and cut apart – was approved at the highest levels. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a short time, nations were unified in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States enacted penalties and visa bans in that year over the killing, although it stopped short of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

White House Remarks

Opponents of the government had strongly criticized the visit. But what was on display at the presidential residence was worse than could have been anticipated. Not only did the president fete the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter history – and then pointed fingers at the victim. Prince Mohammed, Trump claimed 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 disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or disapproved, incidents occur.”

Established Conduct

This marks a new and abject low for a leader who has made little secret of his contempt for the truth – or for the press. He has smeared journalists (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the inquiry about the journalist at the media event “fake news”), berated them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his relationship with the convicted sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein), 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 lose their licenses.

He has pressured established media out of the White House press pool for refusing to use language of his choosing, and he has gutted funding for essential public media at domestically and vital independent media internationally.

Broader Implications

All of that has fostered an atmosphere in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their victimization – and indeed killing – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“a lot of people disliked that person”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the most lethal year on record for journalists in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this information: a ongoing neglect to hold those responsible for reporter murders has created a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are actually able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

In no place is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the deaths of over two hundred media workers in the recent period.

Societal Impact

The impact on society is deep. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our liberty to exist without fear and safely.

This week, CPJ meets for its annual global journalism honors. My message at the event is the same as my message for the president: such events may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.