Washington Post columnist says she was fired for social media posts after Kirk was killed
Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah said on Monday that she was fired from the publication over social media posts she made following the killing of Charlie Kirk.
Writing in a lengthy Substack post, Attiah said she was dismissed over her posts on Bluesky that she says were deemed to be “unacceptable,” “gross misconduct” and that endangered the physical safety of her colleagues.
“They rushed to fire me without even a conversation,” she wrote. “This was not only a hasty overreach, but a violation of the very standards of journalistic fairness and rigor the Post claims to uphold.”
A spokesperson for the Washington Post declined to comment on personnel matters. The Washington Post’s public social media policyrequires employees to ensure any posts made do not make “reasonable people question their editorial independence, nor make reasonable people question The Post’s ability to cover issues fairly.”
The guidance also urges staffers to “avoid curating your feeds in ways that suggest you have a partisan point of view on an issue The Post covers,” though the policy specifically states that does not apply to columnists, critics and other practitioners of opinion journalism posting as part of their work.
Earlier this year, the publication shifted its opinion section to focus on supporting “personal liberties and free markets.” Owner Jeff Bezos said at the time that a “broad-based opinion section” was no longer needed because a diversity of opinions were available online.
In a statement, the Washington Post guild called Attiah’s firing “unjust” and said it would continue to defend her rights.
“The Post not only flagrantly disregarded standard disciplinary processes, it also undermined its own mandate to be a champion of free speech,” the guild said in a post on X. “The right to speak freely is the ultimate personal liberty and the foundation of Karen’s 11-year career at The Post.”
Some of Attiah’s social media posts condemned political violence but also highlighted Kirk’s divisive comments on Black women. In her only post directly mentioning Kirk, she quoted the Turning Point USA founder’s comments that Black women lack “brain processing power.”
“I made clear that not performing over-the-top grief for white men who espouse violence was not the same as endorsing violence against them,” Attiah said.
Attiah, who started her career at The Washington Post in 2014, said the publication “silenced” her. She warned her firing is part of a larger trend.
“What happened to me is part of a broader purge of Black voices from academia, business, government, and media — a historical pattern as dangerous as it is shameful — and tragic,” she said.
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