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“Things happen.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for the US president to effectively dismiss what is arguably 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 the media – and for the facts.

Background Details

The US president’s dismissive attitude of the killing of prominent journalist the Washington Post columnist came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the US intelligence concluded in a recent assessment had orchestrated the kidnap and killing of the journalist in that year. (The crown prince has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the only ones to determine the murder – which occurred in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and cut apart – was signed off at the highest levels. An inquiry led by former UN expert, Agnès Callamard, reached comparable findings.

International Response

For a short time, governments were unified in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The United States imposed penalties and travel restrictions in that year over the murder, although it refrained of sanctioning Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the nation has been gradually restoring itself – and the leader’s trip to Washington seemed to be the ultimate sign of that redemption.

White House Remarks

Critics of the regime had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was evident at the presidential residence was worse than could have been imagined. Not only did the president fete Prince Mohammed but he seemed to alter the facts – and then blamed the deceased. Prince Mohammed, Trump claimed when asked, was unaware about the killing – in direct contradiction to what his country’s own spy agencies concluded previously. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you approve of him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Pattern of Behavior

This marks a new and abject low for a leader who has made no attempt to hide of his disdain for the facts – or for the press. Trump has defamed reporters (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the question about Khashoggi at the Saudi press conference “false information”), scolded them in open settings (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his connection with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued news outlets for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets he doesn’t like to lose their licenses.

He has pressured established media out of the White House press pool for refusing to use terminology of his choosing, and he has slashed financial support for vital news services at home and crucial free press abroad.

Broader Implications

All of that has fostered 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 unimportant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“a lot of people disliked that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the most lethal year on record for the press in the more than 30 years the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this data: a ongoing neglect to hold those accountable for journalist killings has created a environment without consequences in which journalists’ killers are actually able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

In no place is this clearer than in Israel, which is accountable for the killing of more than 200 media workers in the recent period.

Effect on Society

The impact on society is profound. Attacks on journalists are assaults on facts. They are undermining of reality. They are attacks on our entitlement to information and on our liberty to exist without fear and safely.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists gathers for its yearly global journalism honors. My message at the event is the same as my one for the president: such events may occur. But it is our responsibility to make sure they do not.