Washington Post Columnist Fired for Bluesky Posts After Kirk Assassination

Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah was fired for posts she made on the social media platform Bluesky after the assassination of Charlie Kirk (Right bias).

The Details: Attiah, who started her career with the The Washington Post (Lean Left) in 2014, said the Post fired her last week over a series of social media posted about race and gun control. She said she was the last black full-time opinion columnist on The Post's roster.

Key Quotes: On Bluesky, Attiah posted, "Part of what keeps America so violent is the insistence that people perform care, empty goodness and absolution for white men who espouse hatred and violence." On Monday, Attiah wrote on Substack, “As a columnist, I used my voice to defend freedom and democracy, challenge power and reflect on culture and politics with honesty and conviction. Now, I am the one being silenced — for doing my job.”

For Context: The Washington Post's policies and standards includes a section on social media that requires journalists to ensure their social media comments "would not make reasonable people question their editorial independence." Nine months ago, according to Breitbart (Right), Attiah was encouraged by The Post to accept a buyout package.

How the Media Covered It: The Washington Examiner (Lean Right) wrote that the Charlie Kirk quote posted by Attiah was "fake." Several sources on the left noted that The Washington Post Guild disagreed with the firing, stating that it "disregarded standard disciplinary processes." Sources across the political spectrum referred to The Post's Policies and Standards, while only Politico (Lean Left) reported that the policy states that mandates to avoid partisan views doesn't apply to columnists.

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