WaPo Journalist Fired For Justifying Charlie Kirk’s Killing Calls New Firings at Paper Akin to ‘Colonial Press Censorship’
An opinion-style piece about upheavals at The Washington Post and the surrounding debate over journalism, layoffs, and power. It centers on Karen Attiah, a former Post writer, who was fired for cause after allegedly misquoting Charlie Kirk in a discussion about remarks on Black women. The article notes the paper’s broader troubles: a major workforce overhaul that included cutting about a third of staff and shuttering sections like sports, all amid private ownership by Jeff Bezos and reports of important losses in 2023. It contrasts the Post with rivals such as The New York Times and Politico, and mentions leadership changes in mid-2024 (Sally Buzbee’s replacement by matt Murray) and the accompanying internal discord.
The piece discusses Attiah’s public activity on Bluesky, where she criticized journalism and argued that the press is shaped by colonial legacies, white power structures, and capitalism. It presents the author’s view that Attiah’s statements and behavior contributed to the controversy surrounding her firing. Throughout, the article weaves in various quotes, social-media embeds, and references to the Post’s financial and audience dynamics, concluding with a critical stance toward Attiah, Bezos, and broader depictions of press independence as tied to advertising and ownership rather than purely to ideals of free speech.
Karen Attiah didn’t stick around to get fired this week by The Washington Post. She’d already been dismissed, for cause, and a good one: She’d effectively spent the period following Charlie Kirk’s assassination in September taking quotes wildly out of context to effectively justify the murder.
You probably haven’t heard much from Attiah unless you’re a real devotee of hers or of Bluesky, the ersatz X alternative for people who can’t handle opinions that aren’t their own.
She posts quite freely over there, and she had some thoughts about the layoffs this week at her former paper: specifically, they’re all part of the white colonialism baked into the free press from before America was founded!
As for the Post employees not fired for cause: The paper announced earlier this week that it was slashing a third of its workforce and cutting entire sections, including sports, in a major shake-up.
While the paper’s financials aren’t publicly aired due to the fact that it’s a private concern — owned by Jeff Bezos — reports are that it lost $100 million alone in 2023, about 40 percent of the paper’s estimated value.
Furthermore, competitors like The New York Times have made a successful transition to covering news and being a general lifestyle outlet, while niche publications like Politico and The Hill have sucked up much of the Capitol Hill staffer/political junkie audience the paper used to garner.
In mid-2024, publisher Will Lewis fired executive editor Sally Buzbee and replaced her with Matt Murray, and warned staff that their product wasn’t influential or widely read. This caused much discord but apparently, no real change in direction, either politically or in the quality of the paper.
Whether or not the “firings will continue until standards improve” approach will work is anyone’s guess, although I don’t know anyone outside the liberal media sphere who believes Wednesday’s move made the Post any less readable or valuable.
Inside that sphere, however, there was much wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth, and even gnashing of hands and wringing of teeth. That’s how upset everyone was that Jeff Bezos wasn’t running the Post as if it were a charity cause — which would make it one of the least successful charities in Washington, it must be noted, and that’s an accomplishment.
There were no shortage of bad takes on this, particularly from former Post employees. However, Attiah’s is really something to behold, for more reasons than one.
First, if you remember her name, it’s probably from the Bluesky post that got her fired, in which she took a quote Charlie Kirk made about Michelle Obama, Sheila Jackson Lee, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and other powerful black women saying they were only where they were because of affirmative and cut out the entire part about affirmative action and the powerful women it was referring to, making it sound as if he was making the remark about about the brain power of all black women.
So Karen Attiah says she quoted Charlie Kirk’s own words.
She did not. She said “you do not” — speaking of specific women — and Karen dishonestly changed it to “black women do not.”
She deserved to be fired, entirely, and without any question.pic.twitter.com/KeWDwbDykw pic.twitter.com/bqG7th5h5t
— Pudge (@pudgenet) September 15, 2025
Anyhow, she says she got fired because she was, and I quote “being silenced — for doing my job.”
Those who still follow her antics on Bluesky learned what her job was on Wednesday after the firings, when she described why Bezos went through with the axing at her former employer.
“As terrible as what is happening right now to journalism, we actually should dismantle the romantic myths we have of the press in America,” she wrote.
“I teach in my class about colonial press censorship, and then how the independent press was a tool for the wealthy, white power holders to maintain dominance.”
As terrible as what is happening right now to journalism, we actually should dismantle the romantic myths we have of the press in America.
I teach in my class about colonial press censorship, and then how the independent press was a tool for the wealthy, white power holders to maintain dominance.
— Karen Attiah (@karenattiah.bsky.social) February 5, 2026 at 5:16 AM
Oh, but it doth get better.
“What people don’t know is they the [sic] colonial American press became independent was not because it was enshrined in some glittering document,” she continued.
“The press in America became independent once the [sic] figured out they could sell advertising to get out from having to depend on colonial government backing.”
“So counter-intuitively— capitalism was an early means to a freer press,” she added. “British imposed heavy fines, taxes and restrictions on press in many of its colonies around the world, including the U.S.
“Advertising + wealthy owners then became baked into the U.S. newspaper system.”
What people don’t know is they the colonial American press became independent was not because it was enshrined in some glittering document.
The press in America became independent once the figured out they could sell advertising to get out from having to depend on colonial government backing.
— Karen Attiah (@karenattiah.bsky.social) February 5, 2026 at 5:22 AM
So counter-intuitively— capitalism was an early means to a freer press.
British imposed heavy fines, taxes and restrictions on press in many of its colonies around the world, including the U.S.
Advertising + wealthy owners then became baked into the U.S. newspaper system.
— Karen Attiah (@karenattiah.bsky.social) February 5, 2026 at 5:29 AM
Wow, man. Wow. Like yeah. Insert “100” emoji here, plus a few hand-clap emojis. Bezos is a white colonizer acting like white colonizers do, just like … uh, Ben Franklin, I suppose.
There are a million hot anti-capitalist takes on “billionaire used to getting results fires staff on news outlet not getting results,” but I’ll give the writers of these takes this much: Most of them just attacked the capitalist system in general and said Bezos should have continued funding the Post not just in spite of, but because of, its increased irrelevance due to blatant partisanship.
Few have had the nerve to say, accckshuulllly, this goes back to colonial practices in America, and we should discard our “romantic myths” about free speech because it’s been all about the Benjamins since the days of Benjamin, baby. (Be sure to subscribe to Attiah’s Substack, though!)
I’ll also give Karen Attiah this much: If you were an editor on the Washington Post and you weren’t sure her barely concealed joy over Kirk’s assassination was a reason to let her go, she’s giving you plenty of reasons to have done it after the fact.
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