National Public Radio on Tuesday reported, then quickly retracted, that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was retiring \u2014 a mistake by its veteran court reporter that prompted an apology from the news organization\u2019s executive editor and an entire column by its public editor explaining what happened and how. <\/p>\n
NPR attributed the error by reporter Nina Totenberg, on the final day of the court\u2019s session,<\/a> 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\u2019s website for about five minutes, though some member stations had it up longer, NPR said. <\/p>\n An editor\u2019s note posted by some NPR affiliates said: \u201cEarlier today, we erroneously published a story saying that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was retiring. Neither Alito nor the court\u2019s public information office has announced his retirement, and we have retracted the story.\u201d<\/p>\n Later, a longer statement from Editor-in-Chief Tommy Evans said NPR regretted the error and the confusion it may have caused. \u201cDue to a misunderstanding, NPR\u2019s 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,\u201d Evans said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs soon as the error was realized, the story was retracted and removed from NPR\u2019s website and an on-air correction was broadcast. We regret the error and any confusion this may have caused,\u201d Evans said. <\/p>\n Breaking down the error<\/p>\n Interviewed later on NPR\u2019s \u201cAll Things Considered,\u201d Totenberg explained how what she called \u201cthe worst professional mistake of my more than 50 years in journalism\u201d came about.<\/p>\n Reading aloud from a letter of apology she\u2019d sent to Alito, Totenberg said she\u2019d 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 \u201cretirement announcements.\u201d She then mistakenly assumed it was Alito who was retiring.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was a rookie mistake,\u201d Totenberg noted in the interview.<\/p>\n \u201cI scared everybody half to death for about five minutes, and it\u2019s entirely on me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n