An arbitrator has ruled that The Washington Post must rehire columnist Karen Attiah and pay her back wages after finding the newspaper lacked sufficient grounds to dismiss her.
Attiah was sacked following social media posts she made after the fatal shooting of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk on a Utah college campus in September 2025. Kirk’s death sparked widespread mourning among conservatives and prompted President Donald Trump to threaten action against what he termed the “radical left”.
Controversial posts spark dismissal
In the wake of the killing, Attiah posted on social media that she would not express sadness over Kirk’s death and shared previous racist remarks he had made about Black women. The Post accused her of “gross misconduct” and violating the newspaper’s social media policies, according to its own reporting.
The arbitrator’s decision, released on Monday, stated the Post “did not have good and sufficient cause” for the dismissal and ordered Attiah’s reinstatement with compensation.
Attiah, who had worked at the publication for 11 years, described herself as the “last remaining Black full-time opinion columnist at the Post” when she was dismissed. She responded to the ruling on X, saying she was “happy” with the decision and claimed she had been forced out for “speaking the truth”.
In her posts about Kirk, she highlighted his racist statements, including claims that Black women lack “brain processing power” and therefore require assistance from diversity programmes. She also criticised the Trump administration’s portrayal of Kirk as a conservative martyr.
The Post said it respected the arbitration process but declined further comment.
Champion of press freedom
Attiah gained prominence as the editor for journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi national with US residency who was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. US intelligence and a United Nations investigation later determined that Saudi Arabia was responsible for his killing.
Attiah had recruited Khashoggi to write about the Arab world and published his final posthumous column, which advocated for free expression in the region. She has since championed human rights and free expression in her journalism.
Shifting editorial focus
Since Amazon founder Jeff Bezos purchased The Washington Post in 2013, the newspaper’s opinion section has reportedly shifted its editorial focus toward “personal liberties and free markets”, according to internal directives.
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