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“Incidents take place.” Just two words. That’s all it took for the US president to effectively dismiss what is probably the most notorious journalist killing of the last decade – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for journalists, for journalism – and for the truth.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissal of the murder of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a press conference with the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a recent assessment had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the journalist in 2018. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.)

The US intelligence services were not the sole entities to conclude the murder – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the late Khashoggi was sedated and cut apart – was signed off at the highest levels. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, nations were unified in their condemnation of the kingdom’s conduct. The United States enacted sanctions and visa bans in that year over the murder, although it stopped short of sanctioning Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to the US capital seemed to be the ultimate sign of that rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the government had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was evident at the White House was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did Trump honor the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter history – and then pointed fingers at the victim. Prince Mohammed, he claimed when asked, knew nothing about the murder – in clear opposition to what his nation’s spy agencies determined previously. Moreover, Trump said: “A lot of people disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a fresh and shameful low for a leader who has made little secret of his contempt for the facts – or for the press. He has smeared journalists (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the question about Khashoggi at the media event “fake news”), berated them in public (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), taken legal action against news outlets for large amounts of money in frivolous cases, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has pressured established media out of the White House press pool for declining to use language of his choosing, and he has slashed financial support for vital news services at home and vital independent media abroad.

Wider Consequences

All of that has fostered an atmosphere in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“a lot of people disliked that person”).

It is no surprise that that year was the deadliest year on file for journalists in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this data: a persistent failure to hold those responsible for journalist killings has created a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are actually able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is responsible for the killing of over two hundred journalists in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The impact on society is profound. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are violations of our rights to know and on our freedom to live freely and securely.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. My message at the event is the identical as my one for the president: these things may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.