The Washington Post has been ordered to reinstate opinion columnist Karen Attiah after she was fired over social media posts about conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The New York Times broke the story earlier today, saying an independent arbitrator ordered the paper to rehire Attiah and give her back pay.
“The Washington Post failed to establish the grievant engaged in gross misconduct,” arbitrator Sarah Miller Espinosa wrote in the decision handed down on Thursday, Aug. 20.
Espinosa added that The Post “did not have good and sufficient cause” to fire Attiah and violated its own labor agreement.
The Post said it respects the decision, but declined additional comment.
Attiah celebrated the victory Monday, Aug. 24, in a statement shared with her followers on Instagram.
“I won. After wrongfully firing me last year, an independent arbitrator has ordered the Washington Post to reinstate me immediately, with back pay,” she wrote. “It’s been a year-long fight, but this is a victory for journalists everywhere.”
The National Association of Black Journalists applauded the ruling and praised Attiah for challenging the firing.
“Karen Attiah deserved a fair process, and she showed tremendous courage in pushing back, standing up for herself and fighting for what she believed was right,” NABJ President Errin Haines said in a statement Monday.
“This ruling affirms that the serious questions surrounding her termination were warranted,” Haines added.
In a press release, NABJ noted that the ruling came one week after it presented The Post with a 2026 Thumbs Down Award for “conduct that harms Black journalists, weakens newsroom equity, reinforces damaging portrayals of Black people, or compromises the public service mission of journalism.”
The group also issued the awards to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr; the CBS Network; ESPN host Stephen A. Smith; and television station owner DuJuan McCoy.
“When NABJ raises concerns about the treatment of Black journalists, we do so because the decisions news organizations make have real consequences for our members, our profession and the communities we serve,” Haines said Monday.
The NABJ president encouraged The Post, which billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has owned since 2013, to “listen, learn and demonstrate through its actions what meaningful accountability looks like.”
The Washington Association of Black Journalists supported Attiah throughout the arbitration process.
“We hope this landmark decision sends a message to newsrooms everywhere: Black journalists deserve to work in environments where we are free from attempts to silence our voices,” WABJ President Phil Lewis said Monday.
Attiah was fired in September 2025 after sharing several posts on Bluesky following Kirk’s fatal shooting at Utah Valley University, as previously reported.
In its termination letter, the paper said her online remarks “violate The Post’s social media policies, harm the integrity of our organization, and potentially endanger the physical safety of our staff.”
Attiah pushed back at the time and described her posts as “measured” commentary about political violence, racial double standards and gun culture.
She worked at The Post for 11 years and served as a columnist and founding editor of its Global Opinions section.
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