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“Incidents take place.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is probably the most infamous journalist killing of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward journalists, for the media – and for the truth.

Background Details

The American leader’s dismissal of the murder of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi came during a press conference with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the US intelligence found in a recent assessment had ordered the kidnap and killing of the journalist in 2018. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to conclude the murder – which occurred in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the 59-year-old journalist was drugged and dismembered – was signed off at the top echelons. An inquiry led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, governments were unified in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US imposed penalties and visa bans in that year over the killing, although it stopped short of sanctioning the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually restoring itself – and the leader’s trip to Washington seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the regime had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was evident at the White House was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did the president honor the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then pointed fingers at the victim. The crown prince, Trump claimed when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own intelligence services 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, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a fresh and shameful point for a president who has made little secret of his contempt for the truth – or for the press. He has smeared reporters (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the question about the journalist at the Saudi press conference “fake news”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his connection with the convicted sex offender financier the convicted criminal), taken legal action against media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets he doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has forced established media out of the White House press pool for declining to use language of his choosing, and he has gutted funding for vital news services at home and crucial free press abroad.

Broader Implications

All of that has fostered an atmosphere in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the United States, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“a lot of people didn’t like that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the deadliest year on record for the press in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been tracking this data: a persistent failure to bring to justice those accountable for journalist killings has established a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers are actually able to escape punishment and so persist in these actions.

In no place is this more evident than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is accountable for the killing of over two hundred media workers in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The effect on society is deep. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our freedom to live freely and safely.

This week, CPJ gathers for its yearly global journalism honors. My message at the event is the same as my message for Trump: such events may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.