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“Things happen.” Just two words. That’s all it took for the US president to brush off what is probably the most infamous murder of a reporter of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for journalists, 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 media briefing with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a recent assessment had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the Washington Post columnist in 2018. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The US intelligence services were not the only ones to determine the homicide – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old journalist was drugged and cut apart – was approved at the highest levels. An inquiry led by then UN special rapporteur, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

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 nation has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to Washington seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the government had strongly criticized the visit. But what was on display at the presidential residence was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did Trump honor the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter the facts – and then blamed the victim. Prince Mohammed, Trump claimed when asked, was unaware about the murder – in clear opposition to what his nation’s spy agencies determined four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals disliked that person that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.”

Established Conduct

This represents a new and abject low for a president who has made little secret of his disdain for the truth – or for the press. He has defamed journalists (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the inquiry about the journalist at the media event “fake news”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his relationship 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 doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the White House press pool for refusing to use language of his preference, and he has gutted financial support for vital news services at home and crucial free press abroad.

Broader Implications

All of that has created 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 unimportant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“a lot of people didn’t like that gentleman”).

It is no surprise that 2024 was the deadliest year on record for the press in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been tracking this information: a persistent failure to bring to justice those responsible for reporter murders has created a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers are literally able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

In no place is this more evident than in Israel, which is responsible for the killing of more than 200 media workers in the past two years.

Societal Impact

The effect on the public is profound. Attacks on journalists are assaults on facts. They are undermining of reality. They are violations of our rights to know and on our freedom to live freely and securely.

This week, CPJ gathers for its annual global journalism honors. My message at the event is the same as my message for Trump: these things may occur. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.