I’ve been thinking about this question for awhile. Why did this murder in particular strike a chord with Western, especially American media? Obviously I’m not saying they shouldn’t care, but they are hypocrites. We know there have been a ton of other atrocities committed by Saudi Arabia, not to mention so many other nations. The American media obviously doesn’t give a fuck about Gaza, and certainly doesn’t seem to care about the other horrors the Saudis are financing.
Why was this so reported on? Was it because he was a member of the media class?
Was it because he was a member of the media class?
Pretty much. His death hits too close to home.
In addition to being a member of the media class, there was also the grizzly way he was murdered and in an embassy to boot. The story was teed up for wall-to-wall coverage.
He had been living in America as well, so I assume they had met him in person and therefore they had to care
well they tracked his location and had audio because he wore an apple watch so that got huge media attention.
as a member of the press being potentially murdered, It was big enough to get picked up by major news outlets I think.
My hypothesis is that Kashoggi’s death was less about his death and moreso about the flow of capital in the gulf. Yes, his death was particularly grizzly and the means by which the Saudis achieved it were flagrant. But publicizing his death put a spanner in several works and redirected capital for years after. The prequel to the prequel of NEOM died in the water because nobody was gonna have a respectable meeting with MbS right after the murder.
It is hard to keep track of who’s friends with who in the region given that the GCC is a den of snakes that hate each other, but Turkey is always on the lookout for gulf capital and the turkish government did a masterclass of dripfeeding the details of the murder into the wider newsphere. They just never let it go, there was always another detail that either made the Saudis look like buffoons or monsters, often both. Once that was achieved, it would have taken consensus in the US and the media powers of the GCC to kill the story. That, in turn, would only have been possible if Israel was the culprit. Since it was the Saudis the answer was to weather the storm and invest capital elsewhere for a while.
prescriptivism that isn't really important but I can't seem to shut up
grisly* is the gory meaning, grizzly usually refers to a subtype of bear
to be fair
spoiler
i wouldn’t have been shocked if they used a bear to do it
it was pretty sensational, I mean there was a pic posted on twitter of his removed face
In a more appropriate world it would have been the scandal that permanently soured the reputation of the Saudis, and since he was a journalist the media acted appropriately. For once. For a little while. But the world moved on rather quickly.
He was supposedly an agent killed by a so-called ally when he tried to leave via remarrying into the United States. No consequences happened to the Saudis.
Jamal Kashoggi is also part of the Kashoggi family (see Adnan Kashoggi.)
It could be more of a function of being connected to a powerful and wealthy family than being a media figure.
