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“Stuff occurs.” Just two words. That’s all it took 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 the press, for the media – and for the facts.

Background Details

The US president’s dismissal of the killing of well-known reporter the Washington Post columnist came during a press conference with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the CIA found in a 2021 report 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 determine the murder – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the late journalist was sedated and cut apart – was approved at the highest levels. An inquiry led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.

Global Reactions

For a short time, governments were in agreement in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US enacted sanctions and travel restrictions in that year over the murder, although it stopped short of sanctioning Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually restoring itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

White House Remarks

Critics of the government had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was on display at the White House was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did the president fete the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote history – and then blamed the deceased. The crown prince, he asserted when asked, knew nothing 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 didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a new and abject low for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his disdain for the truth – or for the press. He has smeared journalists (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the inquiry about the journalist at the media event “false information”), scolded them in public (he called one a “rude name” 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 pressured veteran news services out of the White House press pool for declining to use terminology of his preference, and he has gutted financial support for essential public media at domestically and vital independent media abroad.

Broader Implications

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

It is unsurprising that that year was the most lethal year on file for journalists in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this information: a persistent failure to hold those accountable for journalist killings has established a environment without consequences in which those who murder reporters are literally able to escape punishment and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this clearer than in Israel, which is accountable for the deaths of more than 200 journalists in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The impact on the public is profound. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are violations of our rights to know and on our freedom to live freely and securely.

This week, CPJ meets for its annual International Press Freedom awards. The statement there is the identical as my message for Trump: these things may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.