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“Stuff occurs.” Just two words. That was enough for Donald Trump to brush off what is probably the most notorious journalist killing of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his contempt for the press, for journalism – and for the truth.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the killing of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi 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 ordered the abduction and murder of the journalist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to determine the homicide – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was drugged and cut apart – was signed off at the top echelons. An inquiry led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, governments were unified in their condemnation of the kingdom’s conduct. The United States enacted sanctions and visa bans in 2021 over the killing, 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 the US capital seemed to be the ultimate sign of that rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the government had roundly condemned the visit. But what was on display at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did the president honor the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter history – and then pointed fingers at the victim. The crown prince, Trump asserted when asked, was unaware about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own intelligence services determined previously. Moreover, Trump said: “Many individuals didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a fresh and shameful low for a president who has made little secret of his disdain for the truth – or for the media. He has defamed journalists (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the question about Khashoggi at the media event “false information”), berated them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his connection with the convicted sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued media organizations for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, 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 declining to use terminology of his choosing, and he has slashed financial support for essential public media at domestically and crucial free press abroad.

Broader Implications

All of that has fostered an atmosphere in which journalists are clearly more vulnerable in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“many individuals disliked that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the deadliest year on file for the press in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been documenting this data: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those accountable for journalist killings has established a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are actually able to escape punishment and so continue to do so.

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

Effect on Society

The effect on society is deep. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our liberty to live freely and securely.

On Thursday, CPJ meets for its yearly global journalism honors. My message there is the same as my message for the president: such events may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.