Is there some kind of uncontrollable epidemic of satyriasis among the men who work at NPR and PBS?  Because an unusually high number of prominent men of both organizations have been fired for allegedly sexually harassing women in the workplace.

.... the tweedy world of public broadcasting – a complex ecosystem of local stations and national syndicators, with NPR at the center – has seen some of its most popular figures fall in recent months, including Garrison Keillor, Leonard Lopate, Jonathan Schwartz and John Hockenberry.

The reckoning is not over.  On Wednesday, WBUR in Boston said it had fired Tom Ashbrook, the host of "On Point," a call-in show heard on 290 stations, after an investigation found that he had "created an abusive work environment."

The list of men now gone from public broadcasting after being accused of harassment also includes Michael Oreskes, a former editor at The Times who was NPR's top news executive; David Sweeney, NPR's chief news editor; Daniel Zwerdling, an NPR investigative reporter; and Charlie Rose, who straddled commercial and noncommercial television as PBS's marquee talk-show host and, on CBS, a host on "CBS This Morning" and a correspondent on "60 Minutes."

Laura R. Walker, the chief executive of New York Public Radio, has said the station is committed to changing its culture, but a recent piece by New York magazine portrayed the staff as skeptical and disillusioned.

Here is Zwerdling's crime, as alleged by a female coworker:

At one weekly meeting, they couldn't get seats at Starbucks, and Zwerdling suggested they go to an outdoor public courtyard in the center of a building nearby.

The woman didn't recall what they were talking about when they sat in the courtyard, but she remembers that out of the blue Zwerdling put his hand on her knee. "I was wearing a skirt, so he touched my bare skin on the inside of my right thigh. ... It was momentary."

Ultimately, the woman said the experience damaged her confidence.  She left public radio but works in journalism.  "Now I'm literally afraid of men in the workplace," she said.

Touch her knee for a split-second, and she's scarred for life.

Here's Lopate's firing offense:

...as [the complaining employee] was preparing for a segment about a cookbook, Lopate explained how the avocado got its name. She said he told her that it came from the Aztec word for "testicle," and then he made what she considered a crude hand gesture, adding "you know, because of the shape and the bumpy skin." Lopate referred to this incident in an interview with the New York Times.  The paper reported "he was incredulous that such a statement would have resulted in a complaint to superiors."  Speaking with WNYC News earlier this week, he denied making the hand gesture and using the graphic description.  He said of the etymology, "it's an interesting fact."

A second producer filed a complaint against Lopate in March, 2017, describing comments she felt were inappropriate.  In one incident, she said Lopate was conducting an interview about undocumented immigrant [sic] women brought to the U.S. and forced to perform sexual acts.  At one point, she said he muted his microphone and said to the producers in the studio, "Sounds like how I treat my staff."  

But then there were clearly incidents that crossed the line.  Just look at Charlie Rose:

Eight women have told The Washington Post that longtime television host Charlie Rose made unwanted sexual advances toward them.... Two said that while they were working for Rose at his residences or were traveling with him on business, he emerged from the shower and walked naked in front of them.  One said he groped her buttocks at a staff party.

Kyle Godfrey-Ryan, one of Rose's assistants in the mid-2000s, recalled at least a dozen instances where Rose walked nude in front of her while she worked in one of his New York City homes.  He also repeatedly called the then-21-year-old late at night or early in the morning to describe his fantasies of her swimming naked in the Bellport pool as he watched from his bedroom, she said.

Charlie Rose seems like such a mild-mannered, gentle guy.  I can't imagine him walking around naked in his old, wrinkled body around 21-year-olds.  But who really knows?

When you have the combination of hypocritical liberal men who think they can get away with anything and women who are so P.C. that they consider a suggestive comment about avocados a microaggression, you have the perfect recipe for mass firings.

Ed Straker is the senior writer at Newsmachete.com.