🔗 Share this article

“Incidents take place.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to brush off what is arguably the most notorious journalist killing of the last decade – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for the press, for the media – and for the truth.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissal of the killing of well-known reporter the Washington Post columnist came during a media briefing with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the CIA found in a 2021 report had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the Washington Post columnist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services were not the sole entities to determine the homicide – which occurred in the Saudi diplomatic building in Istanbul and in which the late journalist was sedated and dismembered – was signed off at the highest levels. An inquiry led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, nations were unified in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States imposed penalties and visa bans in 2021 over the murder, although it stopped short of sanctioning Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to Washington seemed to be the ultimate sign of that rehabilitation.

White House Remarks

Opponents of the regime had strongly criticized the visit. But what was on display at the White House was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did Trump fete the Saudi leader but he seemed to alter history – and then blamed the deceased. Prince Mohammed, Trump asserted when asked, was unaware about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s spy agencies determined previously. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This represents a new and abject low for a leader who has made no attempt to hide of his disdain for the facts – or for the media. He has smeared reporters (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the question about the journalist at the Saudi press conference “false information”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier the convicted criminal), 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 pressured established media out of the White House press pool for refusing to use language of his choosing, and he has slashed financial support for essential public media at domestically and vital independent media internationally.

Broader Implications

All of that has fostered an environment 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 disliked that person”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the most lethal year on file for journalists in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been tracking this information: 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 literally able to escape punishment and so persist in these actions.

In no place is this more evident than in Israel, which is responsible for the deaths of more than 200 media workers in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The impact on society is profound. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are violations of our entitlement to information and on our liberty to live freely and securely.

This week, CPJ meets for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. My message there is the identical as my message for Trump: these things may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.