PEN America condemned Monday the firing of MSNBC and The Washington Post journalists over critical comments about Charlie Kirk following following his assassination last week.
In the wake of the news that Matthew Dowd had been fired at MSNBC for comments made the afternoon of the Kirk shooting at Utah Valley University Wednesday, Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah revealed Monday that she had also been dismissed from her employer for her social media posts about Kirk. Responding to such instances of media firings, writers’ organization PEN America warned that Kirk’s shooting is having a chilling effect on the free press. PEN America is a nonprofit that champions literary and human rights and defends free expression.
“The firing and suspension of multiple journalists after the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk should alarm anyone who cares about free speech and a free press,” the statement read. “Taken together, these measures risk creating a chilling effect that extends beyond those directly targeted, weakening public discourse at a moment when open debate is urgently needed.”
The org’s condemnation continued: “Journalists should not have to fear losing their jobs simply for offering analysis or asking tough questions on matters of public concern. These reprisals come amid a broader climate of fear and intimidation that seeks to silence the exchange of ideas. PEN America stands with journalists who have been targeted and calls on media organizations to resist political pressure and to reaffirm their commitment to protecting diverse viewpoints and fearless reporting.”
On Monday, Attiah – WaPo’s global opinions editor – announced that the paper had fired her over multiple social media posts commenting on political and gun violence in the wake of Kirk’s killing, which she said the paper unfairly labeled as “gross misconduct.”
“Last week, the Washington Post fired me,” she wrote in a Substack post. “The reason? Speaking out against political violence, racial double standards and America’s apathy toward guns.”
Dowd was dismissed from MSNBC last week after comments made during a live report following the Utah campus shooting — before he knew Kirk was the victim of the shooting or that he had died. Dowd was critical or Kirk, noting that his “hateful thoughts lead to hateful words which ultimately lead to hateful actions.” MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler denounced the contributor’s rhetoric and later Wednesday dismissed him from the network. Writing on his personal Substack later that week, the journalist blamed a “right wing media mob” for misconstruing his words and said “MSNBC reacted to that mob.”
“I said that Kirk has been a very divisive and polarizing figure. I then added that we are in a toxic time in America, unlike every other democracy in the world, where we have a combination of divisiveness and near unlimited access to guns. The effort by Holocaust survivors to remind folks of Germany in the 1930s #ItStartedWithWords came to my mind and I said my now legendary line ‘hateful thoughts lead to hateful words which ultimately lead to hateful actions,’” Dowd wrote. “I thought to myself how could anyone disagree with this. I guess I was naive.”
