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“Stuff occurs.” Just two words. That’s all it took for the US president to brush off what is arguably the most infamous journalist killing of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward journalists, for the media – and for the facts.

Background Details

The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the killing of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing 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 Washington Post columnist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to determine the murder – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the late Khashoggi 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 short time, governments were unified in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US enacted penalties and visa bans in that year over the murder, although it stopped short of sanctioning the crown prince himself. Since then, the nation has been gradually restoring itself – and the crown prince’s visit to Washington seemed to be the ultimate sign of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the government had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was on display 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 blamed the victim. Prince Mohammed, Trump claimed when asked, was unaware about the murder – in direct contradiction to what his nation’s intelligence services concluded previously. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or disapproved, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a new and abject point for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the facts – or for the press. He has defamed journalists (he called a news network, whose journalist asked the inquiry about Khashoggi at the media event “fake news”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), taken legal action against media organizations for large amounts of money in frivolous cases, and called for news outlets he disapproves of to lose their licenses.

He has pressured established media out of the official briefing group for refusing to use terminology of his choosing, and he has slashed funding for vital news services at home and crucial free press abroad.

Wider Consequences

All of that has fostered an environment in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the United States, but one in which their targeting – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but tolerated (“many individuals disliked that person”).

It is no surprise that that year was the deadliest year on file for the press in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this information: a persistent failure to hold those responsible for reporter murders has created a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers 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 journalists in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The effect on the public is deep. Targeting reporters are assaults on facts. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our liberty to live freely and securely.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its annual International Press Freedom awards. The statement at the event is the identical as my message for the president: such events may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they do not.