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“Incidents take place.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for the US president to brush off what is arguably the most infamous murder of a reporter of the last decade – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward the press, for the media – and for the truth.

Background Details

The US president’s dismissive attitude of the murder of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi came during a press conference with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the CIA concluded in a recent assessment had ordered the abduction and murder of the Washington Post columnist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to conclude the homicide – which took place in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and in which the late journalist was drugged and dismembered – was approved at the highest levels. An investigation led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, nations were unified in their criticism of the kingdom’s conduct. The US imposed sanctions and visa bans in that year over the murder, although it refrained of sanctioning the crown prince himself. Since then, the nation has been gradually restoring itself – and the crown prince’s visit to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the regime had roundly condemned the visit. But what was on display at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did the president fete Prince Mohammed but he seemed to alter history – and then blamed the deceased. Prince Mohammed, he asserted when asked, was unaware about the killing – in clear opposition 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 disapproved, things happen.”

Established Conduct

This represents a fresh and shameful low for a leader who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the truth – or for the media. Trump has defamed reporters (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the question about Khashoggi at the media event “false information”), scolded them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his relationship with the convicted sex offender financier the convicted criminal), sued news outlets for large amounts of money in frivolous cases, and called for news outlets he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the official briefing group for refusing to use terminology of his choosing, and he has gutted financial support for essential public media at domestically and vital independent media internationally.

Wider Consequences

All of that has created an atmosphere in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the United States, but one in which their victimization – and indeed killing – becomes not just insignificant (“things happen”) but tolerated (“a lot of people didn’t like that person”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the deadliest year on record for the press in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been tracking this data: a ongoing neglect to bring to justice those accountable for journalist killings has established a culture of impunity in which journalists’ killers are actually able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this clearer than in Israel, which is accountable for the deaths of more than 200 journalists in the past two years.

Effect on Society

The impact on the public is deep. Attacks on journalists are assaults on facts. They are attacks on facts. They are violations of our entitlement to information and on our freedom to exist without fear and safely.

This week, CPJ meets for its yearly global journalism honors. My message at the event is the identical as my message for the president: these things may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.