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“Things happen.” 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 sank to a fresh depth in his disregard toward journalists, for journalism – and for the truth.

The Context

The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the murder of well-known reporter the Washington Post columnist came during a press conference with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the US intelligence found in a recent assessment had ordered the abduction and murder of the journalist in 2018. (The crown prince has denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services were not the sole entities to determine the homicide – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and dismembered – was approved at the highest levels. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, Agnès Callamard, reached similar conclusions.

Global Reactions

For a short time, governments were in agreement in their condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US enacted sanctions and travel restrictions in that year over the murder, although it stopped short of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the final confirmation of that rehabilitation.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the regime had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was on display at the White House was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did Trump honor the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then pointed fingers at the victim. Prince Mohammed, he asserted when asked, was unaware about the murder – in clear opposition to what his nation’s intelligence services concluded previously. Moreover, the president said: “A lot of people didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or disapproved, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This represents a fresh and shameful point for a president who has made no attempt to hide of his contempt for the facts – or for the media. Trump has defamed reporters (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the inquiry about the journalist at the Saudi press conference “false information”), berated them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his connection with the convicted sex offender financier the convicted criminal), taken legal action against media organizations for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he disapproves of to lose their licenses.

He has pressured veteran news services out of the official briefing group 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 atmosphere in which journalists are clearly more vulnerable in the US, but one in which their victimization – 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 ongoing neglect to hold those responsible for reporter murders has created a environment without consequences in which those who murder reporters are actually able to escape punishment and so continue to do so.

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

Effect on Society

The impact on the public is profound. Targeting reporters 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 securely.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its yearly global journalism honors. My message there is the same as my one for Trump: these things may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.