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“Stuff occurs.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for the US president to brush off what is probably the most infamous journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for journalists, for journalism – and for the truth.

Background Details

The US president’s dismissive attitude of the murder of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the CIA concluded in a recent assessment had ordered the kidnap and killing of the journalist in 2018. (The crown prince has denied involvement.)

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to determine the homicide – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the 59-year-old journalist was sedated and cut apart – was signed off at the highest levels. An investigation led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, nations were unified in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States imposed sanctions and visa bans in that year over the murder, although it stopped short of sanctioning the crown prince 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 redemption.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the government had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was evident 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 the facts – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. The crown prince, Trump claimed when asked, was unaware about the killing – in clear opposition to what his country’s own intelligence services determined previously. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Established Conduct

This represents a fresh and shameful low for a leader who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the facts – or for the press. Trump has defamed journalists (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the inquiry about Khashoggi at the media event “false information”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued media organizations for large amounts 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 preference, and he has slashed financial support for vital news services at home and crucial free press internationally.

Wider Consequences

All of that has created an environment in which journalists are manifestly less safe in the United States, but one in which their targeting – and indeed killing – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but tolerated (“many individuals didn’t like that gentleman”).

It is no surprise that that year was the most lethal year on file for the press in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this data: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those accountable for reporter murders has created a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers are literally able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is responsible for the deaths of over two hundred media workers in the recent period.

Societal Impact

The impact on society is profound. Attacks on journalists are assaults on facts. They are undermining of reality. They are violations of our rights to know and on our liberty to exist without fear and safely.

On Thursday, CPJ meets for its yearly global journalism honors. My message there is the same as my one for Trump: such events may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.