Karen Attiah's Departure from The Washington Post: A Shocking Turn of Events

In an announcement on her Substack, The Golden Hour, Karen Attiah, an opinion editor for The Washington Post, revealed she was dismissed last week after an 11-year tenure. Attiah held the distinction of being the last full-time Black opinion columnist at the publication. This follows a wave of departures among senior Black staff members at the Post during a recent buyout, including notable figures such as Monica Norton and Krissah Thompson. Vincent Morris highlighted the shrinking presence of Black journalists in senior positions, emphasizing this concerning trend. Washington, D.C.'s Black population, which has drastically declined from 70% in 1980 to 40% in 2020, faces further underrepresentation in media. On September 15, Attiah noted her termination stemmed from a social media post related to conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Attiah decried the deterioration of diverse representation, asserting the firing exemplifies a broader trend of marginalizing Black voices across various sectors. The Washington Post Guild criticized Attiah's dismissal as unjust and detrimental to free speech.

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