🔗 Share this article

“Stuff occurs.” A mere phrase. That was enough for Donald Trump to brush off what is arguably the most infamous 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 truth.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the murder of well-known reporter the Washington Post columnist came during a media briefing with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the US intelligence found in a 2021 report had orchestrated the kidnap and killing of the journalist in that year. (The crown prince has denied involvement.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to determine the homicide – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and cut apart – was approved at the highest levels. An inquiry led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, nations were in agreement in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States enacted sanctions and travel restrictions 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 Washington seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the government had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was on display at the presidential residence was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did the president fete the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter history – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. Prince Mohammed, Trump asserted when asked, knew nothing about the murder – in clear opposition to what his country’s own intelligence services determined previously. Moreover, Trump said: “Many individuals didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or disapproved, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This represents a new and abject low for a president who has made little secret of his disdain for the truth – or for the media. 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 “rude name” this week for asking about his connection with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), taken legal action against media organizations for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to lose their licenses.

He has forced established media out of the official briefing group for refusing to use language of his preference, and he has slashed financial support for essential public media at home and vital independent media abroad.

Wider Consequences

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 murder – becomes not just insignificant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“many individuals disliked that person”).

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the most lethal year on file for journalists in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this data: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those accountable for journalist killings has established a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are actually able to escape punishment and so continue to do so.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Israel, which is responsible for the deaths of over two hundred journalists in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The impact on society is profound. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are violations of our rights to know and on our freedom to live freely and safely.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its annual International Press Freedom awards. My message there is the identical as my one for Trump: such events may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.