NPR Public Editor by Poynter's Kelly McBride

NPR has covered several natural disasters this past summer, across the United States and around the world.

In the U.S., public radio journalists filed stories from flash floods in the Grand Canyon, wildfires in Spokane, Washington, tornadoes across Indiana, wildfires in Reno, Nevada.

Beyond the United States, NPR correspondents have documented the aftermath of the massive flood in Nepal, earthquakes in both Venezuela and Colombia and wildfires in Spain and France.

There is absolutely no doubt among the news leaders at NPR that as the intensity of natural disasters increases, so will the news coverage. But how does NPR decide which disasters to cover and when to send correspondents?

A listener wrote in recently asking this question. He was looking for coverage of this year’s monsoons in India, which walloped several communities. I talked through some recent choices with the executive editor to better understand how these decisions are made.

Below, we also spotlight an NPR investigation on the undercounted prevalence of heat-related deaths in the U.S. — Kelly McBride

Illustration by Carlos Carmonamedina

Here are a few quotes from the Public Editor's inbox that resonated with us. Letters are edited for length and clarity. You can share your questions and concerns with us through the NPR Contact page.

Why no coverage of Indian monsoons this year?

D.P. wrote on Aug. 2: I have small concerns about NPR’s global coverage. I have seen international reporting on specific political movements in India and environmental crises such as wildfires in Spain and France. However severe monsoon flooding, and desperate rescue efforts sweep across regions in Western India, and the coverage on NPR is virtually nonexistent.

Are the international stories chosen based on human toll and humanitarian urgency? Or is there a filter that prioritizes stories only when they carry a convenient political angle or to fit a narrative targeting specific types of foreign governments?

When ordinary families are losing their homes and livelihoods to catastrophic natural disasters, but get overlooked simply because they don’t feature the right political storyline, it feels like a failure of our basic journalistic duty to humanize suffering across the globe.

NPR has no litmus test for whether a natural disaster meets the threshold for news coverage. Editors consider the potential death count, the extent of property damage, the number of people displaced, and how unexpected or unusual the disaster is.

On top of those questions, editors also ask: Does NPR have a journalist nearby?

For disasters within the borders of the United States, that often means leaning on the staff at member stations around the country, which is what NPR did for the recent flooding in the Grand Canyon, as well as after a fire burned 30 buildings in Reno. When wildfires devoured suburban neighborhoods in Spokane, NPR national correspondent Kirk Siegler went to the scene.

The massive flood that surged through Nepal was an easy call, VP and Executive Editor Krishnadev Calamur told me. The scale of the disaster made it news.

“A glacier melting, it’s unexpected on a super clear day,” Calamur said. “There’s tourists, hikers, trekkers. Pardon the term, but it’s a perfect storm for a story because it’s got all the elements that make it an unexpected natural disaster.”

NPR also had international correspondent Diaa Hadid stationed in Mumbai, a relatively easy flight to Nepal.

“Occasionally we may not be able to get to every big natural disaster, but we certainly try to get to the biggest ones,” Calamur said.

So why not cover the monsoons this year in India? Although they started out mild, the three-month rainy season overwhelmed several regions.

Monsoons happen every year, with some accompanying destruction and death. When they are particularly horrific, they merit coverage, Calamur told me. Flooding or other disasters outside of monsoon season are more likely to generate coverage, as they are more unusual. So it’s not about the politics of India. Instead, it’s about the relative difference between the usual and the unusual.

When NPR can’t get its own journalists to the scene, it relies on the Associated Press or other news services, which is what it did with the monsoons this year. NPR published one AP web story on the flooding in the Assam region, where more than 100 people died and thousands lost their homes. The story noted that the monsoon rains are intensifying as a result of climate change.

The fires this summer in Spain and France were significantly worse than expected. Paris-based correspondent Eleanor Beardsley covered the story, as did reporter Miguel Macias from Spain. NPR staff tapped into wire services to publish a photo essay and other updates.

By comparison, when earthquakes struck Venezuela, NPR first turned to freelancer John Otis and then flew in correspondent Eyder Peralta, who is based in Mexico.

“We sent a whole bunch of people to cover it, because it’s in the U.S.’s backyard and there’s probably some domestic repercussions,” he said. “There’s a scale of widespread destruction.”

As wide-ranging natural disasters come faster and bigger, NPR will face an even greater challenge of deploying finite resources to tell stories that might compete against each other for the public’s attention.

Calamur reminded me that NPR’s true ambition isn’t just to report dramatic stories. Instead, he said, the public radio network aims to “explain the world.”

That may eventually require fewer stories from the scenes of individual disasters and more stories that investigate government responses and explore how communities prepare for a future where climate disasters happen somewhere every week. — Kelly McBride

The Public Editor spends a lot of time examining moments where NPR fell short. Yet we also learn a lot about NPR by looking at work that we find to be compelling and excellent journalism. Here we share a line or two about the pieces where NPR shines.

NPR investigates heat deaths in the U.S.

NPR and Boston University found that deaths related to heat are being significantly undercounted in the United States. On average, researchers estimate that some 9,000 deaths each year in the country are caused in part by heat, according to an investigation led by NPR’s Alejandra Borunda that spanned two years. Backed by data and the creation of a statistical model, this analysis is a tremendous feat for NPR in collaboration with BU, and a worthwhile cause as they continue to explore how lives can be saved from heat-related deaths. We look forward to more coverage in the coming days, as promised by NPR. — Amaris Castillo

The Office of the Public Editor is a team. Reporters Amaris Castillo and Nicole Slaughter Graham and copy editor Merrill Perlman make this newsletter possible. Illustrations are by Carlos Carmonamedina. We are still reading all of your messages on Facebook, Instagram, Threads and from our inbox. As always, keep them coming.

Kelly McBride
NPR Public Editor
Chair, Craig Newmark Center for Ethics & Leadership at the Poynter Institute

Kelly McBride
Public Editor

Amaris Castillo
Poynter Institute

Nicole Slaughter Graham
Poynter Institute

The Public Editor stands as a source of independent accountability. Created by NPR's board of directors, the Public Editor serves as a bridge between the newsroom and the audience, striving to both listen to the audience's concerns and explain the newsroom's work and ambitions. The office ensures NPR remains steadfast in its mission to present fair, accurate and comprehensive information in service of democracy.

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