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“Things happen.” Just two words. That was enough for the US president to brush off what is probably the most notorious murder of a reporter of the last decade – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his disregard toward journalists, for journalism – and for the facts.

Background Details

The US president’s dismissive attitude of the murder of well-known reporter the Washington Post columnist came during a press conference with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a recent assessment had orchestrated the kidnap and killing of the Washington Post columnist in 2018. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones 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 dismembered – was approved at the highest levels. An inquiry led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a short time, governments were in agreement in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The US imposed sanctions and visa bans in that year over the murder, although it stopped short of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually restoring itself – and the leader’s trip to Washington seemed to be the ultimate sign of that redemption.

White House Remarks

Opponents of the regime had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was evident at the White House was worse than could have been anticipated. Not only did Trump fete the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote history – and then pointed fingers at the victim. The crown prince, Trump asserted when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in clear opposition to what his nation’s intelligence services determined previously. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you like him or disapproved, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a new and abject low for a leader who has made no attempt to hide of his disdain for the truth – or for the media. Trump has defamed reporters (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the question about the journalist at the media event “false information”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “piggy” 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 frivolous cases, and called for media groups he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has forced established media out of the official briefing group for declining to use terminology of his choosing, and he has slashed financial support for vital news services at home and vital independent media abroad.

Wider Consequences

All of that has fostered an environment in which reporters are clearly more vulnerable in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but tolerated (“many individuals didn’t like that person”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the deadliest year on file for the press in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this information: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those accountable for journalist killings 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 clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the killing of over two hundred media workers in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The effect on society is deep. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our freedom to exist without fear and safely.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. The statement at the event is the identical as my message for the president: such events may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.