Aug 24 (Reuters) - The Washington Post has been ordered to reinstate opinion columnist Karen Attiah and provide her with back pay, the New York Times reported on Monday, after the newspaper fired her in September over social media posts about conservative activist Charlie Kirk's assassination.
The ruling comes amid broader scrutiny of the Post's opinion section after owner Jeff Bezos pushed to refocus it on themes including personal liberties and free markets, a change that has drawn criticism from
some readers and staff.
Here are some more details:
• Citing a copy of the decision shared by Attiah's lawyers, the Times reported private arbitrator Sarah Miller Espinosa found the newspaper "did not have good and sufficient cause" to terminate Attiah and had "violated" its labor agreement.
• "The Washington Post failed to establish the grievant engaged in gross misconduct," Espinosa wrote, according to the report.
• A Washington Post spokesperson said the newspaper respects the arbitration process and declined to comment further. Attiah and Espinosa did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
• The dispute began after Attiah's posts on social media platform Bluesky following Kirk's September 2025 assassination, including one in which she noted Kirk's past comments on Black women.
• The Post had said in its termination letter that Attiah's posts violated its social media policy, which requires employees' online activity to be respectful and not undermine the integrity of the newspaper's journalism.
• In February, The Washington Post began layoffs impacting a third of its employees, impacting its international, editing, metro and sports desks amid mounting financial losses.
(Reporting by Anhata Rooprai in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
