NPR retracts article mistakenly reporting Justice Alito's retirement, citing misunderstanding
National Public Radio on Tuesday reported, then quickly retracted, that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was retiring — a mistake by its veteran court reporter that prompted an apology from the news organization's executive editor and an entire column by its public editor explaining what happened and how.
NPR attributed the error by reporter Nina Totenberg, on the final day of the court's session, to a misunderstanding of a statement by Chief Justice John Roberts that led to previously prepared copy being posted live. The erroneous news was also broadcast on NPR. It was live on the organization's website for about five minutes, though some member stations had it up longer, NPR said.
An editor's note posted by some NPR affiliates said: “Earlier today, we erroneously published a story saying that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was retiring. Neither Alito nor the court’s public information office has announced his retirement, and we have retracted the story.”
Later, a longer statement from Editor-in-Chief Tommy Evans said NPR regretted the error and the confusion it may have caused. “Due to a misunderstanding, NPR’s Supreme Court and Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg incorrectly reported that Justice Samuel Alito had retired. Neither Justice Alito nor the Supreme Court Public Information Office has announced his retirement,” Evans said.
“As soon as the error was realized, the story was retracted and removed from NPR’s website and an on-air correction was broadcast. We regret the error and any confusion this may have caused,” Evans said.
Interviewed later on NPR's “All Things Considered,” Totenberg explained how what she called “the worst professional mistake of my more than 50 years in journalism” came about.
Reading aloud from a letter of apology she'd sent to Alito, Totenberg said she'd rushed out of the courtroom early after announcements of court opinions, and when she realized that others had not rushed out, she asked what was happening and was told “retirement announcements.” She then mistakenly assumed it was Alito who was retiring.
“This was a rookie mistake,” Totenberg noted in the interview.
“I scared everybody half to death for about five minutes, and it's entirely on me,” she said.
Evans, also appearing on “All Things Considered,” said that he too felt responsibility, and noted that NPR would be looking at newsroom systems to determine “where we could do better and be better.”
The error was also detailed in a column by NPR's public editor, Kelly McBride, who explained how when Totenberg misheard the announcement, the organization posted some previously written “preparedness” — copy that news organizations often prepare in advance of major expected events and notable deaths.
"Alito is not retiring. The story was wrong," McBride said in her column. "Totenberg misheard Roberts’ statement."
McBride continued: “Totenberg spoke with both her intern, who was at the court with her, and NPR Executive Editor Krishnadev Calamur and told them what she heard. Calamur surfaced the story that NPR had previously prepared for the day Alito did announce his retirement and published it. The information was also broadcast on NPR’s airwaves.”
On a busy day for the court, Roberts had announced the retirement of several court employees, as he customarily does after the court’s final opinions are out. But Alito's name was not among them.
Speculation had swirled about the justice’s future plans earlier this year, but Fox News and CBS reported this spring that he planned to remain on the bench.
Alito has been on the court since 2006, when he replaced Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. He was nominated by President George W. Bush, a Republican.
McBride, in her column, said she didn't expect the mistake to endure in the public consciousness.
For most news consumers, the error is a blip, something that flashed across their feed or they heard on their radio," she wrote. “It was corrected quickly and will not have lasting consequences.”
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