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“Things happen.” A mere phrase. That was enough for the US president to brush off what is probably the most infamous murder of a reporter of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for the press, for the media – and for the facts.

Background Details

The American leader’s dismissal of the murder of prominent journalist the Washington Post columnist came during a press conference with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the CIA concluded in a 2021 report had ordered the kidnap and killing of the Washington Post columnist in 2018. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to conclude the homicide – which occurred in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the 59-year-old journalist was sedated and dismembered – was signed off at the highest levels. An investigation led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

Global Reactions

For a short time, nations were in agreement in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US enacted sanctions and travel restrictions in 2021 over the killing, although it stopped short of sanctioning the crown prince himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

White House Remarks

Opponents of the regime had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was on display at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did Trump honor the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter the facts – and then pointed fingers at the victim. The crown prince, he claimed when asked, was unaware about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s intelligence services determined four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Established Conduct

This represents a new and abject low for a leader who has made little secret of his contempt for the facts – or for the media. Trump has smeared reporters (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the inquiry about the journalist at the media event “false information”), berated them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his connection with the convicted sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein), taken legal action against media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has forced veteran news services out of the White House press pool for refusing to use language of his preference, and he has gutted financial support for vital news services at home and crucial free press internationally.

Wider Consequences

All of that has fostered an environment in which journalists are clearly more vulnerable in the United States, but one in which their targeting – and indeed murder – becomes not just insignificant (“things happen”) but tolerated (“a lot of people disliked that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the most lethal year on record for journalists in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this data: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those responsible 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.

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.

Societal Impact

The impact on society is deep. Attacks on journalists are assaults on facts. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our freedom to live freely and safely.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. My message at the event is the same as my one for the president: such events may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.