Last year, The Washington Post fired columnist Karen Attiah over social media posts she made after the shooting death of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
Attiah appeared on “The Poynter Report Podcast” last October and talked to me about feeling stunned, angry, confused, sad and even betrayed by the place where she worked for 11 years.
But on Monday, her story had a surprising twist: An arbitrator ordered the Post to rehire her.
Arbitrator Sarah Miller Espinosa ruled that the Post “did not have good and sufficient cause” to fire Attiah and that it had “violated” its labor agreement. Espinosa added, “The Washington Post failed to establish the grievant engaged in gross misconduct.”
In a statement, Attiah said she hopes the ruling “sends a message to journalists and media institutions everywhere that freedom of expression is always worth fighting for.”
She also said she is willing to return to the Post.
Attiah also said, “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. After spending over a decade of my career at the Post as an editor and an opinion columnist focusing on race, gender and global human rights, I’m relieved to finally have that record set straight.”
She wrote on Substack , “My God. I fought the Washington Post — and won.”
The New York Times’ Benjamin Mullin wrote , “A spokeswoman for The Post said that the company respects the arbitration process and declined to comment further.”
This story began last September, when Kirk was shot and killed at an event in Utah. Attiah then wrote several social media posts, most of them about gun violence.
In one post, Attiah wrote, “Refusing to tear my clothes and smear ashes on my face in performative mourning for a white man that espoused violence is … not the same as violence.”
She also 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 Sept. 11, the Post fired Attiah, the opinion section’s only Black columnist at the time.
In a lengthy piece on her Substack at the time of her firing, Attiah wrote, “The reason? Speaking out against political violence, racial double standards, and America’s apathy toward guns.”
In a termination letter, the Post accused Attiah of “gross misconduct,” adding, “Your public comments on social media regarding the death of Charlie Kirk violate the Post’s social media policies, harm the integrity of our organization, and potentially endanger the physical safety of our staff.”
Adam O’Neal, the Post’s opinion editor who is stepping away at the end of the month, testified in the hearing. According to a transcript obtained by The New York Times from the day after Attiah’s posts, O’Neal wrote to Wayne Connell, the company’s chief human resources officer, and said, “Karen’s social media feed yesterday and today is beyond the pale, completely unacceptable for someone associated with Opinions.”
O’Neal and Connell met with Will Lewis, then the Post’s CEO, and the decision was made to fire Attiah.
At the time, Attiah wrote on Substack, “They rushed to fire me without even a conversation — claiming disparagement on race. This was not only a hasty overreach, but a violation of the very standards of journalistic fairness and rigor the Post claims to uphold.”
Now, an arbitrator has ordered the Post to reinstate Attiah, who wrote on Instagram , “It’s been a year-long fight, but this is a victory for journalists everywhere.”
After Monday’s ruling, Attiah wrote in her lengthy Substack post, “I am still processing the magnitude of this year-long ordeal, and how important this ruling is — not just for me, but for journalists, and anyone who dares to speak the truth about America in these challenging times. I should not have had to fight this battle, but it was a fight worth having.”
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Gimme five
One of the most influential shows on cable news has a new addition. Fox News announced Monday that Emily Compagno is joining “The Five” as a full-time co-host. She fills the seat vacated by Jeanine Pirro, who left the show last year to become the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
Compagno joins a cast that includes Greg Gutfeld, Dana Perino, Jesse Watters and rotating liberal co-hosts Jessica Tarlov and Harold Ford Jr. Compagno will leave her role as co-host of Fox News’ “Outnumbered” and begin her new job on Sept. 8.
This is a big move for Fox News and Compagno, who has co-hosted “Outnumbered” since 2018.
As Variety’s Brian Steinberg noted , “Any change to ‘The Five’ isn’t to be made lightly. The roundtable discussion program has stood as the most-watched program on cable news for 19 consecutive quarters — more than four years — and regularly wins bigger audiences than even Fox News’ primetime offerings. The show was originally conceived in 2011 as a program that would give more air time to a bevy of Fox News contributors who did not have their own roost on the schedule. Now, it sometimes serves as a launching pad that can boost one of its co-hosts into other prominent Fox News projects.”
Suzanne Scott, CEO of Fox News Media, said in a statement, “Fifteen years later, ‘The Five’ remains a powerhouse and appointment viewing for millions of Americans. Emily is a highly accomplished host whose energy and talent have made her a standout across FoxNews Media, and we are thrilled to officially welcome her to the show.”
Compagno said, “Having an official seat at the table on what I truly believe is the most fun show on television is an incredible privilege. I am grateful for the opportunity and can’t wait to get started.”
Speaking of Pirro …
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro speaks during a news conference last December in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The woman known as Judge Jeanine Pirro left a pretty sweet gig on “The Five” to serve as Trump’s interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. But, apparently, that job isn’t going so well.
In a new report , CNN’s Katelyn Polantz writes that Pirro’s office has failed to secure convictions in an “increasingly alarming number” of federal cases in Washington, D.C. Her report details a string of mistrials and acquittals.
Among the most notable examples, according to CNN, are the cases of two alleged MS-13 leaders, Moises Rivera-Luna and Tokiro Rodas Ramirez.
Meanwhile, there have been reports that Pirro was on thin ice with Trump after she dropped charges related to damage to the Reflecting Pool. Pirro determined that the damage was not caused by vandalism.
Trump publicly criticized Pirro, saying she “choked” and “folded like an umbrella” after dropping charges against a former U.S. Olympian.
After all of that, Pirro reportedly met with Trump at the White House and, for now, remains in her job.
CNN’s technical difficulties
CNN suffered technical difficulties Monday and was off the air for nearly 40 minutes. The network began experiencing disruptions shortly after noon Eastern and returned around 12:51 p.m.
At 12:48 p.m., CNN put out a statement that said, “We are aware of a technical issue across Warner Bros. Discovery that resulted in losing CNN channels for a period of time today. We are working quickly to resolve it and apologize for the interruption.”
A few minutes later, CNN’s Dana Bash, host of “Inside Politics,” said , “Welcome back, and we are back. There was a technical issue across Warner Bros. Discovery channels that resulted in losing our signal. We’re very sorry for the interruption. We are very happy to be back.”
The technical problem also affected HBO and other Warner Bros. Discovery channels.
Meeting canceled
The group of attorneys general from a dozen Democratic states trying to block Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery was supposed to meet with company leaders on Monday. But California AG Rob Bonta canceled that meeting.
In a statement, Bonta said, “My office had a meeting with Paramount on Friday. Paramount did not maintain the confidentiality of that meeting. Not only did Paramount leak the alleged substance of settlement discussions, but they misrepresented these discussions, demonstrating a lack of good faith. As soon as Paramount stops playing games and engages sincerely, my office is happy to meet again.”
However, Paramount said in a statement that it told Bonta’s office that it was not the source of the leak, adding, “We share A.G. Bonta’s concerns about the public discussions and misreporting that has surrounded this deal. We remain hopeful and stand ready to continue good faith discussions to resolve the Attorney Generals suit and move forward with our plans for increased competition and increased output to the benefit of the talent and entertainment workers.”
Lawyers from the two sides met last Friday to discuss the agenda for Monday’s meeting. On Sunday night, The Wall Street Journal’s Joe Flint and Jessica Toonkel wrote that Bonta was “expected to ask Paramount to divest some cable channels and commit to keeping its movie studio separate from Warner Bros. before he signs off on the $81 billion merger, people familiar with the matter said.”
Bonta then canceled the meeting after those details came out.
Media tidbits
- In the latest from The Poynter 50 — our series reflecting on 50 moments and people that shaped journalism over the past half-century — my colleague Amaris Castillo writes, “Daniel Pearl’s murder exposed a new peril of reporting around the world.”
- The Wrap’s A.J. Katz with “BuzzFeed Layoffs Cut HuffPost National Desk to 3 Reporters.”
- In her latest piece for her “American Crisis” Substack, longtime media columnist Margaret Sullivan with “Polls, pundits and horserace coverage are NOT what we need for the midterms.”
- After more than two decades, Jimmy Traina is leaving Sports Illustrated. Traina has been writing the sports media-heavy “Traina Thoughts” and hosts a weekly podcast about sports media. He is joining Underscore Media, where he will host podcasts, write newsletters, and continue to cover sports media. Traina told John Ourand on Puck’s podcast “The Varsity” that leaving Sports Illustrated was not an easy decision, but writing a five-day-a-week column was a grind. He added, “We have jobs where no one ever wants to hear us complain about our jobs, we’re in the playground covering sports, but when you wake up every single morning and you have a blank page in front of you and you have to fill it, there’s a lot of stress there. You don’t want to shortchange people. You want to give them a good column. And I don’t know how you give them a good column when you’re doing it five days a week. We’re covering sports media. If I covered a league — if you cover the NFL yeah, you can probably write five days a week in your sleep. But there’s not sports media news every single day.”
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