🔗 Share this article

“Incidents take place.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for the US president to brush off what is arguably the most notorious murder of a reporter of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward journalists, for the media – and for the facts.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissal of the murder 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 recent assessment had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the Washington Post columnist in 2018. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to determine the homicide – which took place in the Saudi diplomatic building in Istanbul and in which the late journalist was drugged and dismembered – was approved at the top echelons. An inquiry led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a brief period, governments were in agreement in their condemnation of the kingdom’s conduct. The United States imposed sanctions and travel restrictions in that year over the murder, although it refrained of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the crown prince’s visit to the US capital seemed to be the ultimate sign of that rehabilitation.

White House Remarks

Opponents of the government had strongly criticized the meeting. But what was on display at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been anticipated. Not only did the president honor Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote history – and then blamed the deceased. Prince Mohammed, Trump claimed when asked, was unaware about the killing – in clear opposition to what his country’s own intelligence services determined previously. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you like him or disapproved, incidents occur.”

Established Conduct

This represents a fresh and shameful low for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the facts – or for the media. He has defamed reporters (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the question about Khashoggi at the media event “false information”), berated them in public (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued media organizations for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has forced veteran news services out of the White House press pool for declining to use language of his choosing, and he has slashed funding for essential public media at home and crucial free press abroad.

Wider Consequences

All of that has created an atmosphere in which journalists are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their victimization – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but acceptable (“many individuals didn’t like that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the deadliest year on record for journalists in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been documenting this data: a persistent failure to bring to justice those responsible for journalist killings has established a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are actually able to escape punishment and so persist in these actions.

In no place is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is responsible for the killing of over two hundred media workers in the recent period.

Societal Impact

The impact on society is deep. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are undermining of reality. They are violations of our rights to know and on our liberty to live freely and safely.

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists meets for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. The statement there is the same as my one for the president: these things may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.