DENVER -- Former professor Ward Churchill said the news media helped put pressure on the University of Colorado to fire him after he compared some Sept. 11 victims to a Nazi.

Churchill, who was dismissed on research misconduct allegations, finished testifying late Tuesday in his lawsuit in Denver District Court seeking to get his job back.

He denies the charges against him and claims the university was looking for a reason to fire him.

"From day one this was handled in the media," Churchill said. He said the university posted one investigative report about him on its Web site before he could read it.

He said it was like, "flipping a switch." One day he said he was a respected member of the community and then there was an all out effort to get rid of him.

The investigation into his research began after university officials concluded that free-speech protections prevented them from firing Churchill for an essay that likened World Trade Center victims to Holocaust organizer Adolf Eichmann.

The university contends Churchill's firing was proper.

During cross-examination Tuesday, university lawyer Patrick O'Rourke asked Churchill whether he thought it was right to compare the World Trade Center victims to Eichmann.

Churchill said some of the Sept. 11 victims had acquiesced to the practice of chaining 13-year-olds to their work stations in Indonesian sweatshops.

"That's the point that I was trying to make, is that you need to look at what you're doing in the world," he said.

Testimony will continue thruogh the week. It is expected that closing arguments will be heard on Monday.