About KUT News

KUT News launched in 2002, dedicated to expanding and deepening our listeners’ understanding of Austin, Central Texas, the state, the nation and the world.  The five-member staff quickly distinguished itself by providing news and public affairs programming with four guiding principles:

• Serving the public interest by connecting citizens with information they need to both participate fully in civic life and to partake of Austin’s rich culture
• Speaking to a broad spectrum of Austin citizens — about their issues and concerns and about who we are as Austin
• Offering a forum for consideration of the region’s civic challenges and opportunities, from which workable solutions may emerge
• Aspiring to the highest editorial and ethical standards of public radio journalism.

In the years since, we have expanded to a staff of ten award-winning journalists, producing stories, features and documentaries that have been recognized and honored with more than 50 state, regional, national and international awards.

KUT News has forged many successful partnerships with other public radio stations in Texas, as well as an unprecedented collaboration with the non-profit online Texas Tribune.  With our accomplishments and our continuing commitment to journalistic excellence and independence, KUT is considered one of the leading news organizations in public radio.

Be sure to check out:

The Breaking News blog: Check out the KUT Breaking News blog for short, conversational stories throughout the work day about events happening now, or news bits gleaned from other media and spun with interesting background and local context. It’s for people who want to get involved with their community, or just find out what’s going on.

Changing Austin: There’s one thing we all know about living in Austin: the city is changing rapidly, and everyone has an opinion about how that should happen. The City has always had public meetings, but they’ve generally not been well-attended. Each week, we ask Austin’s Community Engagement Coordinator, Larry Schooler, how citizens can learn more about what’s coming up and when and how they can get involved in shaping the city’s future.

Newspod: The KUT Morning NewsPod is a free podcast that provides a roundup of the hot topics in Central Texas news. Hosted by KUT news reporters, it’s an easy, low-impact way to get caught up on what happened overnight and what might be in store for the day.

Texas Political Parlor Podcast: Every week, reporters with KUT and the Austin American-Statesman get together to chat about the latest goings on in state politics.

Special Coverage: From time to time, the KUT News department tackles a single issue from multiple angles with a series of in-depth reports by our award winning team of reporters.  It could be a look at the end of the space shuttle program in Texas, a musing on what it means to be from Texas, or an examination of the state’s budget problems. Stay tuned to this space for our special journalism projects and in-depth coverage.