🔗 Share this article

“Things happen.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for the US president to effectively dismiss what is arguably the most notorious murder of a reporter of the last decade – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his disregard toward journalists, for the media – and for the facts.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the murder of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, MBS – a man whom the CIA concluded in a 2021 report had ordered the kidnap and killing of the journalist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services were not the sole entities to conclude the murder – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the late journalist was drugged and cut apart – was approved at the top echelons. An investigation led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, governments were unified in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States enacted sanctions and visa bans in 2021 over the killing, although it stopped short of penalizing 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 final confirmation of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the government had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was on display at the White House was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did the president honor the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter history – and then blamed the deceased. The crown prince, Trump claimed when asked, knew nothing about the murder – in clear opposition to what his country’s own intelligence services determined previously. Moreover, Trump said: “A lot of people disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This represents a new and abject low for a leader who has made little secret of his contempt for the truth – or for the press. Trump has smeared journalists (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the question about Khashoggi at the media event “fake news”), berated them in public (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), sued news outlets for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets 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 terminology of his choosing, and he has slashed funding for vital news services at domestically and vital independent media internationally.

Broader Implications

All of that has fostered an atmosphere in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed murder – becomes not just insignificant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“a lot of people disliked that person”).

It is unsurprising that 2024 was the most lethal year on file for journalists in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been tracking 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 get away with murder and so continue to do so.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is responsible for the killing of more than 200 media workers in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The impact on society is deep. Targeting reporters are assaults on facts. They are attacks on facts. They are violations of our entitlement to information and on our freedom to live freely and securely.

On Thursday, CPJ meets for its annual International Press Freedom awards. My message at the event is the same as my one for the president: these things may occur. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.