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“Incidents take place.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for the US president to effectively dismiss what is arguably the most notorious murder of a reporter of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for the press, for journalism – and for the facts.

The Context

The US president’s dismissal of the murder of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a press conference with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the CIA found in a recent assessment had orchestrated the kidnap and killing of the journalist in 2018. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to determine the murder – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old journalist was sedated and cut apart – was approved at the highest levels. An inquiry led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a brief period, nations were in agreement in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The US imposed sanctions and travel restrictions in that year over the killing, although it stopped short of penalizing Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to Washington seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

White House Remarks

Critics of the government had roundly condemned the meeting. 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 effectively rewrote the facts – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. Prince Mohammed, Trump claimed when asked, was unaware about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own spy agencies concluded four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or disapproved, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This represents a fresh and shameful point for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the facts – or for the press. Trump has smeared reporters (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the question about Khashoggi at the Saudi press conference “false information”), berated them in public (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), sued news outlets for eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, and called for news outlets he doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has forced established media 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 home and crucial free press internationally.

Broader Implications

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

It is no surprise that that year was the most lethal year on file for journalists in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this information: a persistent failure to bring to justice those accountable 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.

In no place is this more evident than in Israel, which is accountable for the deaths of more than 200 journalists in the past two years.

Societal Impact

The effect on society is profound. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our liberty to exist without fear and securely.

This week, CPJ meets for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. The statement at the event is the identical as my one for Trump: such events may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.