A National Public Radio (NPR) editor’s article inadvertently confirms CNSNews reporting that a Texas public radio station lagged hours behind private media stations providing the local public with vital, timely news about the deadly floods that were ravaging regions of the state June 4-5.
“The news network hasn't always lived up to the promise of well-coordinated coverage, but this time it did,” NPR Public Editor Kelly McBride wrote in an article last Thursday, six days after the previous weekend’s floods that left more than a hundred people dead.
In her article, NPR’s McBride purports to answer the question “How did the public radio network perform as it covered the July 4 flash floods in Texas?” But, while she tries to make the case that Texas Public Radio served the public well, the “proof” she presents suggests it didn’t.
At 4:03 a.m. on Friday, July 4, the National Weather Service (NWS) upgraded its Flash Flood Warning for the Kerrville County region to a Flash Flood Emergency. By 7:30 a.m., more than a half dozen local private radio stations had begun conducting live interviews with the local police department and had posted the NWS alerts on their social media accounts. Additionally, journalists from national private media outlets were providing real-time updates.
In contrast, McBride’s article reveals that, despite days of NWS alerts, Texas Public Radio was ill-prepared for, and far behind private stations, covering the floods when they hit that Friday.
“Automated programming” was broadcast that day and “relatively few” newsroom staffers were on the job, due to the holiday, McBride notes.
“We didn’t know it would be that bad. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been automated,” TPR Vice President of News Dan Katz told McBride. But, TPR did broadcast automated programming and had staff “on call” (not on the job) for breaking news.
Based on her article, Texas Public Radio’s coverage didn’t start until five hours after the 4:03 a.m. National Weather Service declared a Flash Flood Emergency and a TPR reporter wasn’t on the scene until mid-morning:
“Local stories are distributed to NPR's national audience on the website, on newscasts and in the magazine shows,” McBride writes, noting that “At 1 p.m. Central time on July 4, the first newscast mentioned the flooding.”
Despite Texas Public Radio’s tardiness, McBride claims that “news consumers in Texas” experienced “robust, informative and useful storytelling that comes from a public radio network functioning like a well-organized system.”
Likewise – despite being outperformed by private radio stations – Texas Public Radio falsely claims that it “delivers what others don’t,” namely “trusted news that keeps you informed” and “emergency alerts that keep our community safe.”
Ironically, Texas Public Radio made the dubious boast the day before the floods hit in a post urging supporters to lobby the Senate to reject a rescission bill that would end taxpayer funding of public media.
"NPR has hired million dollar lobbyists to try and convince Congress to keep funneling billion dollar earmarks their way. But the deadly Texas flooding has exposed one of NPR's main talking points to be a lie,” Media Research Center Vice President for Free Speech Dan Schneider said, refuting the Texas Public Radio’s lobbying post’s claims:
“In the middle of storm warnings, the local NPR affiliate in Kerr was posting to their social media followers that it alone provided emergency alerts and news. In fact, NPR was the only local radio station that wasn't."
Synopsis of how flood coverage unfolded in Texas:
1. It took NPR (through Texas Public Radio) 19 hours to post anything about the flooding on its social media pages after the National Weather Service posted its July 3 alert.
- What was NPR/TPR doing in the interim? LOBBYING CONGRESS FOR $1.1 BILLION DOLLARS by asking its Texas listeners to call their Senators to vote against President Trump's Rescission Bill.
- When the flood hit at 4:03 AM on July 4, instead of providing local news, the NPR affiliate in Kerrville instead aired "Morning Edition" out of Washington, DC. That day, listeners to NPR heard that the just-passed Reconciliation Bill was an "abomination" and that Trump is a liar. MRC has looked but found no evidence that Texas Public Radio interrupted its regularly scheduled programming to provide urgent advisories about the flood.
- MRC investigators learned that 7 local private radio stations jumped into action on July 4th, breaking into their programming to interview the Kerrville Police Department chief information officer. He provided urgent advice to listeners to seek higher ground and provided updates throughout the day. BUT the NPR stations never reached out to him or the Kerrville Police Department for interviews.
- The 7 private stations posted over 70 alerts on their social pages throughout the day, starting at 7:24 AM. It took Texas Public Radio 6 more hours before it posted its first advisory.
- Reprising FEMA’s disgraceful actions during Hurricane Helene last September, Texas Public Radio also refused to provide any alerts to X users. It instead posted on the left-leaning Bluesky platform as well as Facebook and Instagram. NPR, Texas Public Radio and the NPR affiliates have boycotted X because Elon and Trump labeled them "government-funded media," which they are. In fact, protecting its taxpayer subsidy took priority over the National Weather Service Alerts on July 3, 2025.