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“Stuff occurs.” A mere phrase. That was enough for the US president to brush off what is arguably the most infamous journalist killing of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward journalists, for journalism – and for the facts.

Background Details

The American leader’s dismissal of the murder of well-known reporter the Washington Post columnist came during a media briefing with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a recent assessment had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the journalist in 2018. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The US intelligence services were not the only ones to determine the murder – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old journalist was drugged and dismembered – was approved at the highest levels. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, 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 United States enacted sanctions and visa bans in 2021 over the killing, although it refrained of sanctioning Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the nation has been gradually restoring itself – and the leader’s trip to Washington seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

White House Remarks

Critics of the government had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was evident at the presidential residence was worse than could have been anticipated. Not only did Trump fete Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. The crown prince, Trump claimed when asked, was unaware about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own intelligence services concluded previously. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you like him or disapproved, things happen.”

Established Conduct

This marks a fresh and shameful low for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his disdain for the facts – or for the press. He has defamed journalists (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the inquiry about the journalist at the media event “fake news”), berated them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his relationship with the convicted sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued news outlets for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to lose their licenses.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the White House press pool for declining to use terminology of his choosing, and he has gutted financial support for essential public media at home and crucial free press abroad.

Wider Consequences

All of that has created an environment in which reporters are clearly more vulnerable in the United States, but one in which their targeting – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“many individuals disliked that person”).

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the most lethal year on record for the press 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 environment without consequences in which those who murder reporters are actually able to escape punishment and so continue to do so.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is responsible for the deaths of more than 200 journalists in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The effect on the public is deep. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are violations of our entitlement to information and on our liberty to exist without fear and securely.

On Thursday, CPJ meets for its yearly global journalism honors. My message there is the identical as my one for the president: such events may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.