I mean... everyone but the general public knew he was CIA and remembered who his uncle was. The general public was outraged but the US government and major media outlets didn't make too much of a fuss because it would have resulted in public discussion about what he actually did for a living. Being a Washington Post "journalist" (wrote a few OpEd pieces, not a journalist) was an extremely half assed cover story. Even his own family didn't really have shit to say because they knew what was up. Only person who seemed genuinely confused was his fiance/girlfriend in the US.
Would have been like people getting upset over Jeffery Epstein or Gislane Maxwell getting offed by a government before everyone knew about the Epstein stuff.
Just my hypothesis but I feel like news coverage has exploded since then and more journalists are willing to go into active battlegrounds with generally better security and safety measures.
Reminds me of a journalist who was reporting from Gaza about their deceased colleague and the colleague's family who were murdered in a strike; he was clearly traumatized and took off his vest and helmet and said these do nothing.
New York Times reported 69 died in WW2 so libs have to acknowledge it.
Since the start of the war in 2003, 71 journalists have been killed in Iraq, a figure that does not even include the more than two dozen members of news media support staff who have also died, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. That number is more than the 63 killed in Vietnam, the 17 killed in Korea, and even the 69 killed in World War II, according to Freedom Forum, a nonpartisan free speech advocacy group.