“Incidents take place.” Just two words. That was enough for the US president to brush off what is probably 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 the media – and for the facts.
The American leader’s dismissive attitude of the killing of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a press conference with the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman – a man whom the US intelligence found in a recent assessment had orchestrated the abduction and murder of the journalist in that year. (The crown prince has denied involvement.)
The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to conclude the murder – which occurred in the Saudi consulate in Turkey and in which the late journalist was drugged and dismembered – was approved at the highest levels. An inquiry led by former UN expert, the UN investigator, reached similar conclusions.
For a brief period, governments were in agreement in their condemnation of the kingdom’s conduct. The US enacted penalties and travel restrictions in 2021 over the murder, although it stopped short of penalizing Prince Mohammed himself. Since then, the nation has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to Washington seemed to be the ultimate sign of that rehabilitation.
Opponents of the regime had roundly condemned the visit. But what was evident at the White House was more alarming than could have been anticipated. Not only did Trump fete Prince Mohammed but he effectively rewrote history – and then pointed fingers at the deceased. The crown prince, he claimed when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in clear opposition to what his country’s own intelligence services concluded four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or disapproved, things happen.”
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. He has smeared journalists (he called ABC news, whose journalist asked the question about the journalist at the media event “fake news”), scolded them in public (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his connection with the convicted sex offender financier Jeffrey Epstein), sued news outlets for eye-watering sums of money in vexatious law suits, and called for media groups he disapproves of to be shut down.
He has pressured veteran news services out of the official briefing group for declining to use language of his choosing, and he has gutted funding for essential public media at home and vital independent media abroad.
All of that has fostered an environment in which journalists are clearly more vulnerable in the US, but one in which their victimization – and indeed killing – becomes not just unimportant (“incidents occur”) but tolerated (“a lot of people didn’t like that gentleman”).
It is no surprise that 2024 was the deadliest year on file for journalists in the over three decades the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been documenting this information: a persistent failure to bring to justice those responsible for journalist killings has created a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are actually able to escape punishment and so persist in these actions.
In no place is this clearer than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is responsible for the deaths of over two hundred journalists in the past two years.
The effect on the public is profound. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are violations of our entitlement to information and on our liberty to live freely and securely.
This week, CPJ gathers for its annual International Press Freedom awards. My message at the event is the same as my message for the president: these things may happen. But it is our duty to make sure they cease.
A seasoned casino analyst with over a decade of experience in gaming strategies and industry trends.
