NPR was forced to retract a story Tuesday reporting that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was retiring, an error that has prompted widespread media scrutiny and raised questions about journalistic practices.
The story, published with the headline “Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, retires,” was quickly replaced with an editor’s note stating it was “erroneously published.”
NPR top editor Thomas Evans initially described the error as a “misunderstanding.” However, NPR Public Editor Kelly McBride wrote that legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg, who authored the story, “misheard” an announcement and assumed it concerned Alito’s retirement.
Totenberg later appeared on NPR’s “All Things Considered” to explain the mistake, offering a different account than McBride’s. She read a letter to Justice Alito, apologizing for what she called a “rookie mistake” and her worst professional error in over five decades of journalism.
“I rushed out of the courtroom after the opinion announcements, and when I realized that the usual rush of folks after a few minutes had not happened, I asked somebody what was going on inside, to which the answer was, ‘retirement announcements,’” Totenberg stated. “I didn’t hear the ‘s’ on ‘announcements,’ and I assumed, something no reporter should ever do, that you were retiring.”
This explanation contradicted McBride’s initial reporting, leading NPR to issue a second correction, this time to McBride’s account of Totenberg’s misstep. The updated correction stated that Totenberg “did not personally hear the announcement from the chief justice” and instead heard “somebody” say a retirement was being announced.
Media observers expressed disbelief and confusion regarding Totenberg’s explanation. CNN media reporter Brian Stelter shared Totenberg’s apology on social media, where Axios reporter Alex Thompson responded, “I don’t understand,” with Stelter agreeing. Other commentators suggested Totenberg may have acted prematurely on unconfirmed information.
“Her version of events is not plausible. She heard the word retirement and assumed Alito and published a whole story?” wrote Bethany Mandel. Miranda Devine called the explanation either “a lie or unforgivable incompetence for which she must be fired.” Former CBS News reporter Scott MacFarlane described the situation as “staggering.”
McBride, the public editor, also criticized the error, stating, “As Totenberg said on air later in the day, ‘It was a rookie mistake.’ But had a rookie made such a mistake, he or she would have been dismissed. To make such an assumption is inexplainable.”
Justice Alito, appointed by President George W. Bush, is 76 years old and has served on the Supreme Court for over 20 years, leading to speculation about his potential retirement. A retirement by Alito would allow President Donald Trump to appoint a fourth justice to the court.
NPR has indicated that its process for posting breaking news will be reviewed in light of the incident. The organization did not immediately respond to questions regarding potential disciplinary actions or specific changes to its news-posting procedures.