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“Incidents take place.” Just two words. That was enough for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is probably the most infamous murder of a reporter of the past ten years – and in so doing plumbed a new low in his disregard toward journalists, for journalism – and for the truth.

Background Details

The US president’s dismissal of the killing of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the CIA found in a recent assessment had orchestrated the kidnap and killing of the Washington Post columnist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has denied involvement.)

The US intelligence services were not the only ones to determine the murder – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the 59-year-old Khashoggi was drugged and dismembered – was approved at the highest levels. An inquiry led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, nations were unified in their condemnation of the kingdom’s conduct. The US imposed penalties and travel restrictions in that year over the murder, although it refrained of sanctioning the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually restoring itself – and the crown prince’s visit to Washington seemed to be the ultimate sign of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Critics of the regime had roundly condemned the meeting. But what was evident at the White House was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did the president fete the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote history – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. The crown prince, he asserted when asked, was unaware about the murder – in clear opposition to what his country’s own spy agencies determined previously. Moreover, Trump said: “Many individuals disliked that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, incidents occur.”

Pattern of Behavior

This represents a fresh and shameful low for a president who has made little secret of his contempt for the truth – or for the press. He has defamed reporters (he called a news network, whose reporter asked the question about Khashoggi at the media event “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 large amounts of money in frivolous cases, and called for media groups he doesn’t like to be shut down.

He has forced veteran news services out of the White House press pool for declining to use terminology of his choosing, and he has slashed financial support for vital news services at domestically and vital independent media abroad.

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 targeting – and indeed murder – becomes not just insignificant (“incidents occur”) but tolerated (“many individuals disliked that gentleman”).

It is unsurprising that that year was the most lethal year on file for the press in the over three decades the press freedom organization has been tracking this information: a persistent failure to bring to justice those accountable for journalist killings has established a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are actually able to get away with murder and so continue to do so.

In no place is this more evident than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is responsible for the deaths of over two hundred journalists in the past two years.

Societal Impact

The impact on society is deep. Attacks on journalists are assaults on facts. They are attacks on facts. They are attacks on our rights to know and on our liberty to live freely and safely.

On Thursday, CPJ meets for its yearly global journalism honors. My message there is the same as my message for Trump: these things may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.