🔗 Share this article The President's Casual Remarks regarding Journalist's Murder Represents a Disturbing Development. “Stuff occurs.” A mere phrase. That was enough for the US president to effectively dismiss what is arguably the most infamous 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 facts. The Context The American leader’s dismissal of the killing of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a press conference with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a 2021 report had ordered the kidnap and killing of the journalist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.) The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to determine the murder – which occurred in the Saudi diplomatic building in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was sedated and dismembered – was approved at the top echelons. An investigation led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings. International Response For a short time, nations were unified in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The US imposed sanctions and visa bans in 2021 over the killing, although it stopped short of sanctioning the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually restoring itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the ultimate sign of that rehabilitation. Presidential Comments Opponents of the government had roundly condemned the visit. But what was on display at the presidential residence was worse than could have been anticipated. Not only did the president fete Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then blamed the victim. The crown prince, Trump asserted when asked, was unaware about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own intelligence services determined 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 didn’t like him, incidents occur.” Pattern of Behavior This marks a new and abject low for a president who has made little secret of his disdain for the facts – or for the press. He has smeared reporters (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the question about the journalist at the media event “false information”), berated them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), sued news outlets for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets he disapproves of to be shut down. He has forced veteran news services out of the official briefing group 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 manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed murder – becomes not just insignificant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“a lot of people disliked that gentleman”). It is unsurprising that 2024 was the most lethal year on file for the press in the over three decades the press freedom organization has been documenting this data: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those accountable for journalist killings has established a environment without consequences in which those who murder reporters are literally able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions. In no place is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is responsible for the deaths of more than 200 media workers in the recent period. Societal Impact The effect on the public is profound. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are violations of our rights to know and on our freedom to exist without fear and securely. This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its annual global journalism honors. The statement at the event is the same as my one for Trump: such events may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.