“Stuff occurs.” Just two words. That was enough for the US president to effectively dismiss what is probably the most notorious journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for journalists, 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 media briefing with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the CIA concluded in a 2021 report had ordered the abduction and murder of the Washington Post columnist in 2018. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)
The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to determine the murder – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the late Khashoggi was sedated and dismembered – was approved at the top echelons. An inquiry led by then UN special rapporteur, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.
International Response
For a brief period, nations were unified in their condemnation of the kingdom’s conduct. The US enacted sanctions and visa bans in 2021 over the murder, although it stopped short of penalizing Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually restoring itself – and the crown prince’s visit to Washington seemed to be the ultimate sign of that rehabilitation.
White House Remarks
Critics of the regime had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was on display at the White House was more alarming than could have been anticipated. Not only did Trump honor Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. The crown prince, Trump asserted when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in clear opposition to what his nation’s spy agencies determined 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 low for a president who has made little secret of his disdain for the truth – or for the press. Trump has smeared journalists (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the question about the journalist at the Saudi press conference “false information”), scolded them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his connection with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued news outlets for large amounts of money in frivolous cases, and called for news outlets he disapproves of to lose their licenses.
He has forced veteran news services out of the White House press pool for refusing to use terminology of his choosing, and he has slashed financial support for essential public media at home and crucial free press abroad.
Wider Consequences
All of that has fostered 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 insignificant (“things happen”) but tolerated (“many individuals didn’t like that person”).
It is unsurprising that that year was the most lethal year on file for journalists in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this data: a persistent failure to hold those accountable for journalist killings has created a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are actually able to escape punishment and so continue to do so.
In no place is this more evident than in Israel, which is accountable for the killing of over two hundred media workers in the past two years.
Societal Impact
The impact on the public is profound. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our freedom to live freely and securely.
On Thursday, CPJ gathers for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. The statement there is the same as my message for the president: such events may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.
