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“Incidents take place.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is arguably the most notorious journalist killing of the last decade – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his disregard toward the press, for journalism – and for the facts.

Background Details

The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the murder of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a press conference with the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the CIA concluded in a recent assessment had ordered the kidnap and killing of the journalist in 2018. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.)

The US intelligence services were not the sole entities to determine the murder – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the late journalist was drugged and dismembered – was signed off at the top echelons. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions.

International Response

For a brief period, nations were in agreement in their condemnation of the kingdom’s conduct. The United States enacted sanctions and visa bans in that year over the killing, although it refrained of sanctioning Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that redemption.

White House Remarks

Opponents of the government had strongly criticized the visit. But what was evident at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been anticipated. Not only did the president honor the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote history – and then blamed the victim. Prince Mohammed, he claimed when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own spy agencies concluded four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a new and abject point for a leader who has made little secret of his contempt for the facts – or for the press. He has smeared journalists (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the inquiry about Khashoggi at the Saudi press conference “false information”), scolded 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 large amounts of money in frivolous cases, 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 refusing to use language of his preference, and he has gutted financial support for vital news services at domestically and crucial free press abroad.

Broader Implications

All of that has created an atmosphere in which reporters are clearly more vulnerable in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“things happen”) but tolerated (“many individuals didn’t like that person”).

It is no surprise that that year 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 bring to justice those responsible for reporter murders has established a environment without consequences in which those who murder reporters are actually able to escape punishment and so continue to do so.

In no place is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is responsible for the deaths of over two hundred media workers in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The impact on society is deep. Attacks on journalists 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.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its yearly global journalism honors. My message there is the identical as my one for the president: such events may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.