Arbitrator determined the Post improperly fired Karen Attiah, a union-protected employee, over social media posts

An independent arbitrator has ordered the Washington Post to rehire the high-profile opinion columnist Karen Attiah, abruptly fired by the news organization last September over comments she made on social media about Charlie Kirk, the then recently slain conservative activist.

On Monday, an arbitrator ruled that the Post had violated her rights as a union-protected employee and ordered the newspaper to reinstate her and compensate her for lost wages.

“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,” Attiah said in a statement. “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 … I hope that this win sends a message to journalists and media institutions everywhere that freedom of expression is always worth fighting for.”

  • MagicShel@lemmy.zip
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    5 days ago

    I’m glad he’s dead, and the world is a brighter place for his lack. I only wish he’d been conscious a while to feel the doom weighing upon him.

    That’s the level of vitriol I would love to have read. Right-wingers got off easy.

    • ttayh@lemmy.zip
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      5 days ago

      If you manage to see an uncensored video of the event you’ll see that your wish was already granted

      • MagicShel@lemmy.zip
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        5 days ago

        I’ve seen it. My understanding is that due to catastrophic loss of blood pressure, he was instantly unconscious. But maybe that’s just a nice lie.

        • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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          5 days ago

          Yeah, idk if I buy that. I don’t think, in even the most catastrophic situation (like, uh, being quickly decapitated), that consciousness and awareness in the brain instantly stops. There’s got to be some not-that-small fraction of a second where the consciousness understands something is catastrophically wrong.

          In carotid artery Charlie’s case, I hope it was as long as physiologically possible 🥰