“Stuff occurs.” Just two words. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is probably the most notorious murder of a reporter of the last decade – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for the press, for journalism – and for the truth.
The Context
The US president’s dismissal of the killing of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a 2021 report had orchestrated the kidnap and killing of the journalist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.)
The US intelligence services were not the sole entities to conclude the murder – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was drugged and cut apart – was approved at the top echelons. An investigation led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.
Global Reactions
For a short time, governments were unified in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The US imposed penalties and travel restrictions in 2021 over the murder, although it refrained of penalizing Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually restoring itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the ultimate sign of that rehabilitation.
White House Remarks
Opponents of the regime had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was on display at the presidential residence was worse than could have been anticipated. Not only did the president fete Prince Mohammed but he seemed to alter the facts – and then blamed the victim. Prince Mohammed, he asserted when asked, was unaware about the killing – in clear opposition to what his country’s own spy agencies concluded previously. Moreover, Trump said: “A lot of people didn’t like 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 point for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his disdain for the facts – or for the media. He has defamed reporters (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the question about the journalist at the media event “fake news”), berated 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), sued media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to lose their licenses.
He has forced veteran news services out of the White House press pool for refusing to use language of his preference, and he has gutted funding for essential public media at domestically and vital independent media internationally.
Broader Implications
All of that has fostered an atmosphere in which reporters are clearly more vulnerable in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“a lot of people disliked that person”).
It is no surprise that 2024 was the deadliest year on file for journalists in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been documenting this data: a persistent failure to hold those accountable for reporter murders has created a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are literally able to escape punishment and so continue to do so.
Nowhere is this clearer than in Israel, which is responsible for the deaths of over two hundred journalists in the recent period.
Effect on Society
The effect on society is profound. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our liberty to exist without fear and securely.
This week, CPJ meets for its annual global journalism honors. The statement at the event is the same as my message for Trump: such events may occur. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.
