“Incidents take place.” Just two words. That was enough for the US president to effectively dismiss what is probably the most notorious murder of a reporter of the past ten years – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his contempt for journalists, for journalism – and for the facts.
The US president’s dismissal of the killing of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi came during a press conference with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the CIA found in a 2021 report had ordered the kidnap and killing of the journalist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.)
The American spy agencies were not the only ones to determine the murder – which occurred in the Saudi diplomatic building in Istanbul and in which the late journalist was drugged and dismembered – was signed off at the highest levels. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.
For a short time, nations were unified in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States enacted sanctions and travel restrictions 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 ultimate sign of that rehabilitation.
Opponents of the regime had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was evident at the White House was worse than could have been anticipated. Not only did Trump honor Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote history – and then pointed fingers at the victim. The crown prince, Trump asserted when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own spy agencies concluded four years ago. Moreover, Trump said: “A lot of people didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.”
This represents a fresh and shameful point for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the truth – or for the media. Trump has smeared reporters (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the inquiry about Khashoggi at the media event “fake news”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “rude name” this week for asking about his relationship with the convicted sex offender financier the convicted criminal), taken legal action against news outlets for eye-watering sums of money in frivolous cases, and called for news outlets he disapproves of to lose their licenses.
He has forced established media out of the White House press pool for declining to use language of his choosing, and he has gutted funding for vital news services at domestically and crucial free press abroad.
All of that has fostered an atmosphere in which journalists are manifestly less safe in the US, but one in which their targeting – and indeed killing – becomes not just unimportant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“many individuals didn’t like that person”).
It is no surprise that that year was the deadliest year on file for journalists in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been tracking this data: a persistent failure to bring to justice those responsible for reporter murders has established a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are literally able to escape punishment and so persist in these actions.
Nowhere is this clearer than in Israel, which is responsible for the deaths of more than 200 media workers in the recent period.
The impact on the public is deep. Targeting reporters are assaults on facts. They are attacks on facts. They are violations of our rights to know and on our liberty to exist without fear and safely.
On Thursday, CPJ meets for its yearly International Press Freedom awards. The statement at the event is the identical as my message for the president: these things may occur. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.
A passionate textile artist and community organizer who loves inspiring others through creative sewing projects.
