This happened last week:

At KNKX, we value high-quality, factual information in our news programming and we aim to present an array of voices that reflect our region.

KNKX is an NPR station in Tacoma. It used to belong to Pacific Lutheran University but then

On November 12, 2015, Pacific Lutheran University announced its intention to sell the station to the University of Washington, owner of KUOW.^[4] The planned sale to UW triggered “public outcry” from KPLU’s listener base, who feared KPLU’s unique programming would be sacrificed if it became a sister station to KUOW. On November 23, the KPLU advisory board voted unanimously to oppose the sale.^[5] The board sought to negotiate with a community-based non-profit group, Friends of 88.5, to raise $7,000,000 to buy the radio station and its network of translators and rebroadcasters from the university, keeping it independent.

And they succeeded, which was kind of exciting. I preferred it to KUOW until I quit listening to NPR altogether. But now they’ve done this –

We turn to our regular commentators for their expertise and points-of-view when it comes to sports, food and the weather. But if a commentator, even on his own independent platform, delivers rhetoric that is offensive and inaccurate, we cannot support it.

By which they mean they immediately fire the commentator, and of course they are the ones who determine what is offensive.

This is the case today with Cliff Mass. His post on his personal blog compares recent events in Seattle to Kristallnacht, the 1938 pogrom carried out by Nazi Germany, and draws distorted, offensive parallels between protesters and Nazi Brownshirts. We abhor the comparison and find it sensationalized and misleading — it does not reflect who we are and what we stand for at KNKX.

The segment Weather with Cliff Mass will no longer air on KNKX.

Here’s the thing: Cliff Mass is really good at the commentator bit. He has an excellent radio voice, resonant without being pompous, and he explains what’s going on up in the air, and he’s interesting and gemütlich. And he says it’s KNKX who distorted.

Last week I wrote a blog post–Seattle, A City in Fear Can Be Restored–criticizing violent individuals who have brought repeated destruction to downtown Seattle and attacked and injured numerous people (including reporters and dozens of police officers).  I also criticized the irresponsible and reckless actions of members of the Seattle City Council, who allowed the violence to continue, tried to cripple and defund the Seattle Police Department, and who have persecuted Chief Carmen Best.

It’s tricky about protests, at least I find it tricky. It’s hard to know if reported violence is genuine protesters getting worked up and out of control, or just people taking advantage of protests to smash stuff and grab some goodies – or some of both. If I’d written about the protests (I didn’t, because of that tricky aspect – I didn’t know enough about what happened and didn’t feel confident about the reporting) I don’t think I would have compared them to Kristallnacht, but I also don’t think doing so is a reason to fire someone, especially someone so good at the job in question.

The next day I received a call from KNKX station manager Joey Cohn and program manager Matt Martinez, saying that I was being ejected from the station because of my blog post.  They were not open to discussion on the matter; I was off the air and my weather segment, one of the most popular segments on the station, was discontinued immediately.

That seems ridiculous to me. Ridiculous, unjust, destructive, stupid.

Their reason for my expulsion, provided in a statement released by the station, was both false and misleading.  For example, it stated that my blog “draws distorted, offensive parallels between protesters and Nazi Brownshirts.”  

This is totally false. I NEVER suggested that peaceful protestors are like brownshirts, I was ONLY talking about violent individuals. 

Criticizing violent protesters shouldn’t be a firing offense even if you disagree – which now that I type it looks so absurdly obvious I feel silly for having to type it.

Just to be completely clear I am a strong supporter of peaceful protests and assemblies.  It is an essential aspect of our democracy and protected in the U.S. Constitution.  Peaceful protests have played a critical role in many positive social movements, such as woman suffrage, ending the Vietnam war, and in promoting civil rights.  I have participated in peaceful protests myself.  But violence—destroying business and hurting people—is a different story.   It is not only illegal, and destructive, but it undermines civil society and democracy, and usually hurts the least advantaged among us the most.  That is what I was speaking out against.

It also undermines the protests themselves, and harms the cause for which they’re protesting. Violent protests aren’t good trouble, they’re the bad kind.

I made it clear to both Joey Cohn and Matt Martinez on the call that my remarks were limited to violent individuals and they still chose to send out the deceptive statement.  For the leadership of a major media group to do so is extraordinarily concerning and disappointing.

A major news media group. They’re a local NPR station.

I don’t know that I agree with Cliff Mass about everything; I probably don’t; but that’s not supposed to be the criterion, is it?

So I signed a petition.