Several days after an arbitrator ordered the Washington Post to reinstate fired opinion writer Karen Attiah, she told 蜜桃视频app she’s still hasn’t gotten a phone call about returning to work.
“I’m waiting to hear from the Washington Post as of this morning,” Attiah said. “I’m willing to go back to the work that I was doing as a columnist and as a writer particularly focused on race, gender and international rights.”
A Thursday ruling by arbitrator Sarah Miller Espinosa said the newspaper did not have sufficient cause to fire Attiah over social media posts about violent white men following last year’s killing of Charlie Kirk, and ordered the Post to award Attiah full back pay and lost benefits.
“So, the Washington Post has its marching orders, let’s see if they follow them,” said Attiah, who described her reaction to arbitrator’s ruling as “vindicated, slightly tired, really happy about the decision and reinstatement, plus back pay, of course.”
Kirk rose from a teenage conservative campus activist to become a top podcaster and ally of President Donald Trump. He was shot and killed Sept. 10 during a public appearance at Utah Valley University. He was 31.
After Kirk’s death,聽Attiah, the founding global opinion editor for the Post and the newspaper鈥檚 only Black female opinion writer, made several posts to her Bluesky account.
One post read: 鈥淩efusing to tear my clothes and smear ashes on my face in performative mourning for a white man that espoused violence is 鈥� not the same as violence.鈥�
鈥淚f anything, the rush to coddle violent white men is self-protective 鈥� that we know they are not used to feeling vulnerable and mortal 鈥� and will react violently out of fear. And we will all suffer,鈥� read another post.
Attiah was emailed a termination letter on Sept. 11, accusing her of 鈥済ross misconduct.鈥�
‘Write about the way that we think the world could be’
Attiah said Espinosa’s ruling was a “big win for anyone who’s been silenced, and who’s faced their voice being censored, and particularly a big win for journalism and specifically for opinion journalism.”
The Democracy Defenders Fund, which, along with Washington-Baltimore News Guild, represented Attiah, said the ruling marks a landmark moment for press freedom, 鈥渃onfirming that corporate media institutions cannot use retaliatory discipline to silence journalists who address uncomfortable truths.鈥�
When asked to describe the differences between journalists and opinion journalists, Attiah cited her late editorial page editor and former boss Fred Hiatt, who .
“Reporters write about the world as it is 鈥� the who, what, when, where and why. And those of us who are in column writing and editorial, we have the privilege and sometimes the burden of trying to write about the world as we think it should be,” Attiah said.
While reporters typically limit their writing to facts, opinion journalists have a slightly different standard, she said.
“I think we have this extraordinary privilege and freedom, and frankly, responsibility to try to write about the way we think the world could be,” Attiah said. “And to question frameworks, to hold up a mirror to society, even when that’s uncomfortable.”
After the arbitrator’s ruling, the Post said in a statement that it respects the arbitration process, but declined to comment further. 蜜桃视频app is seeking comment from the Post on if and when it intends to reinstate Attiah.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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