Two Tears in the Bucket: Alaskan TV Reporter is Your New Hero

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While KTVA Reporter Charlo Greene stood up for her beliefs on-air, some think she went one toke over the line.

While KTVA Reporter Charlo Greene stood up for her beliefs on-air, some think she went one toke over the line.

by Shimbo

“Well-behaved women seldom make history.”

When Laurel Thatcher Ulrich coined the phrase that launched thousands of feminist ships, it’s doubtful she ever thought just how far that would go.

Case in point, now ex-KTVA reporter Charlo Greene, who decided to quit during last night’s 10pm broadcast in what could be best described as one of the more interesting displays of honesty and candor, as she revealed to viewers that she was, in fact, the owner of the medical marijuana dispensary featured in her report.

“Now everything you’ve heard is why I, the actual owner of the Alaska Cannabis Club, will be dedicating all of my energy toward fighting for freedom and fairness, which begins with legalizing marijuana here in Alaska,” she said. “And as for this job, well, not that I have a choice but, fuck it, I quit.”

As moments go, it doesn’t get more “mic drop” than that. As the owner of the “Alaska Cannabis Club” this served as Greene’s line in the sand. When asked later about her on-air outburst and public resignation, Greene said that her now-former employer had no idea that she was the owner of the ACC, or that she had any connection to the business before the piece went to air.

However, despite KTVA’s lack of prior knowledge, the on-air confession and resignation was planned in advance, which included a Facebook post from the ACC urging people to watch the 10 o’clock news.

Post by Alaska Cannabis Club.

Since April of this year, the ACC worked to connect medical marijuana cardholders with other weed-growing cardholders. Instead of outright payments, still illegal in Alaska, those who grow are offered “donations” to cover any costs, according to in an interview with Alaska Dispatch News in August. 

The ACC’s goal is to increase access to medical marijuana patients, which can be a little dicey, given the huge gray area in Alaska’s medical marijuana laws. According to Greene:

“I wanted to draw attention to this issue. And the issue is medical marijuana. Ballot Measure 2 is a way to make medical marijuana real … most patients didn’t know the state didn’t set up the framework to get patients their medicine. If I offended anyone, I apologize, but I’m not sorry for the choice that I made.”

Ballot Measure 2 is the referendum vote many Alaskans are waiting for. If passed by popular vote, Alaska would join Washington and Colorado in full legalization of weed state-wide.
Day after day, people bitch and complain about their station in life. Often, their complaints center on their jobs. Green just did it, to coin a popular piece of marketing. She mad her choice, and shouted it to the hilltops. Good for her, honestly.
It would be easy to be cynical about Greene’s public stand, since passage of Ballot Measure 2 would equal into big business for her, and that, on the surface, would make her admission seem less genuine, but it’s hard not to admire the type of guts, the type of risk it takes to be willing to throw her previous career as a reporter away to follow something that clearly has more meaning for her.
If there’s any doubt that she did the right thing, all one needs to do is check in with the court of public opinion, via Twitter:

For their part, KTVA did what they had to do by making a public statement that let viewers know that even if she didn’t just quit live on-air, she was fired:

Post by KTVA 11 News.

That KTVA made the statement isn’t all that surprising, since they were backed into a bit of a corner by not knowing that Green was the owner of the organization that she was reporting on, nor would they have ever guessed that she’d quit on air. A number of people have a problem with that, but mostly because somehow they believe her job is more important than her beliefs.

In moments like this, the famous quote from Fight Club comes to mind: “You are not your job.”

That said, there’s a certain strength that’s necessary to be able to just say “fuck it.” It’s not something most people can get enough nerve up to do. So often, we hear platitudes about “owning your life”, but what it takes to actually make that leap is something that can’t be overstated.

For Greene and the Alaska Cannabis Club, this is only the beginning, as in the hours following her public resignation, she started an Indiegogo campaign, seeking funds for the fight to come ahead of the November elections:

“I’ve seen the dirty campaign tricks and lies that prohibitionists have been using over the past several months to sway Alaskan voters firsthand. Here’s the sad thing: it’s working. Polling shows the majority of Alaskans, who were in favor of the initiative at the start of the year, are now against it. 

Few people fighting for marijuana legalization in Alaska are as media savvy, well educated on the marijuana industry, passionate, professional and completely dedicated to passing this initiative as me, the only person in Alaska that has had the balls to face the injustice of Alaska’s medical marijuana catch-22 and do something about it. My Alaska Cannabis Club members are right here with me, ready to fight this long overdue fight.”

Even if her methods were unconventional, and frankly, scared the shit out of a number of people, she took the step not many would in her position, by creating the sort of buzz that doesn’t necessarily get people high, but certainly offers them a higher level of thinking about the issues that matter to many.

Charlo Greene may not be the perfect hero, but in imperfect times, she’s exactly what we all need to shake things up a bit.

Hashim R. Hathaway (Uncle Shimbo) is the host of the Never Daunted Radio Network, and proud father to NeverDaunted.Net. You can reach him on Twitter @NeverDauntedNet

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