Newspaper Ordered to Reinstate Columnist Fired Over Charlie Kirk Comments

A major newspaper has been ordered to bring back a columnist it fired last year over comments she made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

According to the New York Post, which reported the story Monday, August 24, an arbitrator ruled that The Washington Post must rehire opinion columnist Karen Attiah, who was terminated in September 2025.

Arbitrator Sarah Miller Espinosa wrote in her decision, issued Thursday, August 20, that the paper “did not have good and sufficient cause” to fire Attiah and had “violated” its labor agreement with her, per the report. Espinosa also ordered the paper to compensate Attiah with back pay and lost benefits, the outlet reported.

Attiah was let go the day after Kirk, the Turning Point USA founder, was shot and killed at an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, at age 31. Attiah had posted on Bluesky criticizing what she described as performative public mourning for Kirk, whom she characterized in her posts as a man who had espoused violence.

The Washington Post‘s chief HR officer, Wayne Connell, wrote in a termination letter, cited by the New York Post, that Attiah’s social media messages had harmed “the integrity of our organization” and potentially endangered “the physical safety of our staff.”

Attiah pushed back on her firing following the ruling. “This decision confirms what we’ve said from the start: I was doing my job as an opinion journalist, and doing that job is not misconduct,” she said in a statement to the New York Post. In the same statement, Attiah said she is “relieved to finally have that record set straight” and hopes the ruling “sends a message to journalists and media institutions everywhere that freedom of expression is always worth fighting for.”

Per the report, Norman Eisen, whose nonprofit represented Attiah in the case, called the ruling “a thunderous victory for Karen Attiah, an award-winning journalist fired for doing her job, over Bezos’ Washington Post.” He added, “The Post tried to pass off retaliation as discipline, but the rule of law has exposed it for what it truly is: wrongful termination.”

According to the outlet, a spokesperson for The Washington Post said the paper respects the arbitration process but would not comment further.