| Karen Attiah | |
| Birth Date: | 12 August 1986 |
| Birth Place: | Desoto, Texas, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Journalist |
| Education: | Northwestern University (BA) Columbia University (MIA) |
Karen Attiah (born August 12, 1986) is an American writer, journalist, and editor. She is Global Opinions editor and columnist for The Washington Post. Along with David Ignatius, Attiah won a 2019 George Polk Award for their writing about the murder of their colleague Jamal Khashoggi. She was also named 2019 Journalist of the Year Award by the National Association of Black Journalists for her coverage of Khashoggi's murder. Her writing focuses on race, gender, culture, human rights and international affairs.
Attiah was born in 1986 in North Central Texas to a Nigerian-Ghanaian mother and Ghanaian father.[1] Her father was a pulmonologist.[2] After graduation from Northwestern University with a degree in communication studies and a minor in African studies, Attiah won a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Accra, Ghana, and obtained an MA in international affairs in 2012 from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.[3]
After graduate school, Attiah freelanced for the Associated Press from Curaçao. In 2014, she joined the Washington Post. She was the founding editor for the Posts Global Opinions section in 2016 and was promoted to the role of Opinions columnist in 2021.[4]
Attiah became the focus of international attention in October 2018 when a columnist she had recruited for the Washington Posts Global Opinions section, Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi, went missing on 2 October 2018 after entering the Saudi embassy in Istanbul.[5] In an interview in Marie Claire, Attiah said her WhatsApp was suddenly flooded with "Jamal's missing" messages, and she felt she knew the worst had happened.[6] On October 5, two days after his disappearance, Attiah let his column space remain blank with the title "A missing voice".[7] Since then she has been interviewed by major news outlets as the primary contact for Khashoggi's last published opinion, and she began writing about his death and advocating for investigation.
In 2019, she received a number of awards for her efforts. She and David Ignatius won a George Polk Award for their reporting on Khashoggi's murder. Attiah was also named 2019 Journalist of the Year Award by the National Association of Black Journalists, recognized for "raising her voice and using the power of her pen to bring attention to and offer ongoing coverage" of Khashoggi's murder.[8] She was named to the 2019 Root 100 list, cited as "an evangelist for racial equity and justice and [...] a champion for columnist Jamal Khashoggi, whose assassination exposed violence against the press."[9] She also received an honorary doctorate from Dickinson College for her work. [10]
Attiah was also awarded the 2018 NABJ Salute to Excellence award for Digital Commentary for "TL;DR with Karen Attiah", which ran from 2017 to 2018. [11] [12] She was also the recipient of the 2021 "Star to Watch" award by Washingtonian Magazine.[13]
In July 2019, Attiah accused Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, of making dog whistling attacks against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley, and asserting that it has helped to fuel President Donald Trump's rhetoric.[14] In November 2020, Attiah tweeted inaccurately about pending French legislation, wrongly accusing French President Emmanuel Macron of planning to "give Muslim's kids ID numbers to go to schools."[15] Attiah later deleted her tweet and apologized to her colleagues, though not to Macron.[16]
Beginning in March 2024, Attiah will be an adjunct professor at her alma mater, Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs. Attiah is the author of an upcoming book about Khashoggi called Say Your Word, Then Leave.