Community Representation Statement

KNKX is committed to incorporating the values of the community we serve with all of its diversity of race, culture, thought, faith and economics. We put extra attention on serving audiences that have been historically underserved, reflecting their unique and vibrant voices.

Organizational Culture Initiatives

Organizational Culture Committee

The staff Organizational Culture Committee was created from a passionate group of individuals with a goal of creating a more more thoughtful, broad-based, equitable, and inclusive organizational culture at KNKX. The committee acts as an advisory body to the leadership team and is composed of staff members with an aim to have equal representation across departments. The committee also implements and supports organization initiatives. As a brave space for ideas and discussion, meetings are an open forum by invitation.

Staff Training and Education

KNKX fosters an inclusive and equitable workplace by investing in ongoing staff education. Every few months, the team gathers for facilitated learning sessions. Past sessions have focused on expanding mutual respect, understanding differences, communication, accessibility, recruitment strategies, retention strategies, etc. Through this work, KNKX is building a culture of awareness, accountability, and belonging that strengthens both the staff’s experience with each other and their outward service for the community.

Career Development

KNKX is working to cultivate the next generation of journalists and media professionals, with the understanding that this next generation must reflect the changing cultural landscape of Washington state’s communities.

KNKX partners with the University of Washington School of Journalism and Public Interest (JPIC), providing training to students through the Premier Internship Program. Interns are welcomed as full members of the KNKX News team, contributing to newscasts and providing input that shapes coverage. They get experience writing copy and gather sound, and opportunities to produce their own feature stories.

KNKX is also currently hosting a Murrow News Fellow, in partnership with Cascade PBS. The two-year fellowship program for early-career journalists was funded by the state Legislature in 2023 to increase coverage of civic affairs across Washington. It is administered by Washington State University’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communication. Our fellow produces in-depth, multi-platform reporting on politics, policy, and the issues facing young adults in Washington.

A cornerstone of the station's community outreach programs, KNKX's School of Jazz is helping to create excitement for jazz in young people. Directly impacting thousands of jazz students, band directors and professional musicians providing mentorship, learning and performance opportunities to Western Washington middle school, high school and college jazz students. The School of Jazz program also provides students the opportunity to experience broadcasting behind the mic as a guest DJ.

Source Audits

KNKX News journalists are committed to representing and reflecting the community we serve. Ethnographic data on sources quoted including age, gender, and race is tracked and audited annually, so that staffers and managers can see clearly how our sourcing compares to the latest census data for the region, provided by Puget Sound Regional Council. We believe this is a path to more accurate coverage, with more integrity. We also hope to expand our audience in this way.

KNKX staff and leadership make up a team of incredibly talented individuals — individuals with unique backgrounds and identities. In order to learn more about ourselves, the needs of our workforce, and how our staff might mirror the region we serve. We deploy an annual staff, Board and CAC (Community Advisory Committee) demographics survey.

KNKX will continue to survey staff, management, board and community advisory council annually to measure ourselves from year to year.

Disclaimer: At KNKX, we honor and respect our team’s privacy. We recognize that participation is anonymous and optional, thus, the response rates will not be 100%. This survey is only reflective of the responses we have received and may not offer a complete picture of group representation.

Response rates:

• Board of Directors - 100%
• CAC - 89%
• Staff - 83%

2024 Survey Results