NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg went on All Things Considered on Tuesday to take full responsibility for falsely reporting that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was retiring. The retraction came quickly, but Totenberg did not stop there.
According to The Wrap, Totenberg explained on air that she had rushed out of the courtroom early after opinion announcements and misheard a key word. When she asked someone what was happening inside, the answer was retirement announcements, plural. She did not hear the S.
"I scared everybody half to death for about five minutes, and it was — it's entirely on me, it's not anybody else's fault," Totenberg said.
She then revealed that she had written directly to Justice Alito to apologize, and she read the full letter on air. The letter stated in part: "Dear Justice Alito: There are no words to adequately apologize for today's error in reporting your retirement. It was entirely my fault. 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. I didn't hear the 's' on announcements, and assumed — something no reporter should ever do — that you were retiring."
She described the incident as the worst mistake of her career. "It was the worst professional mistake of my more than 50 years in journalism. I could go on, but I don't know what else to say, except that I am so, so sorry." She added: "And I am, eternally. This was a rookie mistake."
NPR quickly replaced the original story with an editor's note reading: "Earlier today we erroneously published a story saying that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was retiring. He has not announced his retirement and we have retracted the story." Alito was nominated to the Supreme Court by President George W. Bush in October 2005.
NPR editor-in-chief Thomas Evans also appeared on air to address the editorial failure. "Nina was incredibly gracious there, but the truth is, it's as editor in chief, I feel ultimate responsibility for anything that NPR is reporting," Evans said. "We are trying to be a nimble news organization during breaking news and still be correct at all times, and this is something that we should learn from and go back and figure out where we could do better and be better."
Totenberg said she had not heard back from Justice Alito and did not expect to. She framed the public apology as consistent with standards she holds others to. "We in the press corps always want people to own up to their mistakes, and they most of the time don't," she said. "So I'm not going to do that. This is on me, and only me."
