Texas TV station removes clip showing Nazi book burning over Republican protests
A Texas TV station removed a clip that showed footage of Nazi book burning in a report on a local school district decision after outraged Republicans intervened.
Houston's KPRC - owned by Graham Media Group - aired a report last week on Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District's removal of chapters from textbooks about vaccines, climate change and diversity.
The changes were 'quietly implemented' last year, according to the network.
Introducing his report to the camera, journalist Joel Eisenbaum opened a textbook and tore out some of the pages to illustrate the story. 'Book banning, in one form or another, goes back a long time,' he said, as the footage was cut with clips of Nazis burning books. 'And now it's fashionable again, at least in some of our school districts,' Eisenbaum continued.
Republicans responded with fury and accused KPRC of branding GOP school board members as 'Nazis.'
'KPRC in Houston is attacking Republican school board members in CyFair, calling them Nazis—all because they dare to prioritize reading, math, and science over leftist indoctrination,' Rep. Wesley Hunt wrote in a post on X, and suggested that the network was motivated by 'election interference.'
'For the record: these texts were removed over a year ago, so why is this a 'story' now? Because there's an election upcoming! It sounds like election interference to me.'
GOP Senator Paul Bettencourt added: 'Channel 2 in an editorial compared the @CyFairISD ISD trustees in images to Nazis buring books, which is outlandish propaganda! Having elected School ISD trustees taking out DEI references out of textbooks, etc... doesn't mean licensed media can do this without question.'
'Texas Parents, you're all Nazi Book Burners if you teach your kids there are only 2 sexes and boys don't belong in girls bathrooms,' Rep. Steve Toth responded in a post on X.
The Independent has contacted the school for comment.
The network confirmed it had removed the footage in a statement 'after weighing all options.'
Following the backlash, Ana Lastra, KPRC's news director, said leadership would discuss the importance of 'tone, language, and video usage' with journalists as a result. Lastra added that KPRC has since reached out to lawmakers to have a better understanding of their concerns.
'While the facts of the story remain undisputed, we acknowledge that some elements may be perceived as inflammatory and could detract from the core issues,' Lastra said. 'As journalists, our responsibility is to accurately represent facts and information, but I recognize the trust in our work can be undermined by such distractions.'
As part of its reporting, KPRC spoke to concerned parents about the decision to remove chapters from textbooks.
One mother, Tara Cummings, was interviewed by Eisenbaum about her freshman daughter who wanted to pursue a career and medicine. Cummings said her daughter had 'anxiety' over the omission of key scientific topics from her coursework.
KPRC claimed the school did not respond to multiple requests for comment, including one made in person at a public board meeting.
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