🔗 Share this article

“Things happen.” Just two words. That was enough for Donald Trump to brush off what is arguably the most notorious murder of a reporter of the last decade – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for journalists, for the media – and for the truth.

Background Details

The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the murder of well-known reporter the Washington Post columnist came during a press conference with the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the CIA concluded in a recent assessment had orchestrated the kidnap and killing of the journalist in that year. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to determine the homicide – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was sedated and cut apart – was signed off at the highest levels. An inquiry led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, governments were in agreement in their condemnation of the kingdom’s conduct. The United States enacted penalties and travel restrictions in that year over the murder, although it stopped short of sanctioning the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually restoring itself – and the crown prince’s visit to Washington seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

White House Remarks

Critics of the government had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was evident at the White House was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did Trump fete Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote history – and then blamed the victim. Prince Mohammed, he claimed when asked, knew nothing about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own intelligence services concluded four years ago. Moreover, Trump said: “Many individuals didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This represents a fresh and shameful point for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his disdain for the facts – or for the press. He has defamed journalists (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the question about the journalist at the media event “fake news”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his connection with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued news outlets for eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to lose their licenses.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the official briefing group for refusing to use language of his preference, and he has slashed funding for vital news services at home and vital independent media abroad.

Broader Implications

All of that has created an atmosphere in which journalists are clearly more vulnerable in the US, but one in which their victimization – 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 deadliest year on file for the press in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this data: a ongoing neglect to hold those responsible for journalist killings has established a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are literally able to escape punishment and so persist in these actions.

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

Effect on Society

The impact on society is deep. Targeting reporters are assaults on facts. They are attacks on facts. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our freedom to live freely and safely.

On Thursday, CPJ gathers for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. The statement at the event is the identical as my message for Trump: these things may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.