SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
And NPR's Nina Totenberg joins me live now, along with NPR's editor in chief Thomas Evans. Hi to both of you.
NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE: Hi.
DETROW: We're here because we want to take some time to acknowledge an error we made today. We reported that Justice Samuel Alito is retiring. He's not. Nina tell us what happened.
TOTENBERG: Well, we didn't. I did to my boss, and I scared everybody half to death for about five minutes, and it's entirely on me. It's not anybody else's fault. And I've written to Justice Alito to apologize, and I thought I would read you most of this letter, 'cause it tells you everything.
DETROW: OK.
TOTENBERG: (Reading) 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. 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, and I am eternally. You know, this was a rookie mistake.
DETROW: Have you heard back from the justice?
TOTENBERG: No. But I didn't expect to hear back from him. It's my mistake. I - you know, we in the press corps always want people to own up to their mistakes, and they, most of the time, don't.
DETROW: Right.
TOTENBERG: So I'm not going to do that. This is on me and only me.
DETROW: I appreciate you talking to us about it. Tommy (ph), I'm going to bring you in as well, because I'm going to slightly disagree with Nina...
THOMAS EVANS, BYLINE: Yeah.
DETROW: ...Just a little bit. We have systems in place to make sure a mistake like this doesn't make it to air or this doesn't entirely land on one person. Can you tell us what happened?
EVANS: Yeah. And Nina was incredibly gracious there, but the truth is, as editor in chief, I feel ultimate responsibility for anything that NPR is reporting. We do have systems in place. We're 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. But I think, most importantly, we need to be honest with our audience and honest with the listeners that when we make a mistake, we own up to it, and we own it, like Nina did, like I think we all are. And I think we will be a better news organization for it.
TOTENBERG: But I was the only person at the court. And I've seen people make big mistakes because they weren't sitting in the courtroom. And I was - I knew we had a special, and I left early, and that is also on me. You should never leave these people early. I mean, this was, you know - it's very gracious of the network and Tommy to get me off the hook, but there's no getting me off the hook.
DETROW: In the meantime, we will all continue reporting the news. We will do our best to get it right. When we don't get it right, we'll tell you why we didn't get it right, and we will move forward. And we'll continue covering these interesting Supreme Court decisions tomorrow on Morning Edition, on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED and so on. That is NPR's editor in chief Thomas Evans and legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg. Thanks to both of you.
TOTENBERG: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SAVANA FUNK'S "GHIBLI") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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