“Incidents take place.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for the US president to brush off 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 facts.
The US president’s dismissive attitude of the murder of prominent journalist the Washington Post columnist 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 kidnap and killing of the journalist in that year. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)
The American spy agencies were not the only ones to determine the murder – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and cut apart – was approved at the highest levels. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.
For a brief period, nations were unified in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The US enacted sanctions and travel restrictions in that year over the killing, although it stopped short of sanctioning the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to Washington seemed to be the ultimate sign of that rehabilitation.
Critics of the regime had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was evident at the White House was more alarming than could have been anticipated. Not only did the president fete the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter the facts – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. The crown prince, Trump claimed when asked, knew nothing about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s spy agencies concluded previously. Moreover, Trump said: “Many individuals disliked that person that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, things happen.”
This represents a new and abject point for a president who has made little secret of his contempt for the truth – or for the media. Trump has smeared journalists (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the question about the journalist at the Saudi press conference “false information”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his connection with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), taken legal action against media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets 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 preference, and he has gutted funding for essential public media at home and vital independent media internationally.
All of that has fostered an environment in which journalists are clearly more vulnerable in the United States, 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 unsurprising that 2024 was the most lethal year on file for the press in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this information: a ongoing neglect to hold those responsible for reporter murders has established a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are literally able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.
Nowhere is this more evident than in Israel, which is accountable for the killing of more than 200 journalists in the recent period.
The effect on the public is profound. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our freedom to exist without fear and securely.
On Thursday, CPJ meets for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. My message at the event is the same as my one for Trump: such events may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.
Elara is a seasoned writer and digital storyteller with a passion for exploring diverse literary genres and empowering others through words.
