NPR’s Nina Totenberg: A Career Highlighted by Controversies and Mistakes
NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg has had a long, eventful career in journalism, often marked by controversies and errors. Recently, she captured attention by incorrectly reporting that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was retiring. The story, inaccurately titled “Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, retires,” was swiftly replaced with an editor’s note admitting its erroneous publication.
History of Mistakes
Totenberg, 82, whose career spans over five decades, has experienced several notable professional missteps. In 1972, she was dismissed from the National Observer for plagiarism. She had copied verbatim quotes from a Washington Post article about Thomas P. O’Neill and failed to attribute the content properly. Totenberg later acknowledged her error, stating she made poor judgments due to time pressure.
“I was in a hurry. I used terrible judgment,” Totenberg reflected on the incident years later. “A young reporter is entitled to one mistake and to learn from it.”
Controversial Reporting Practices
In 1987, Totenberg faced criticism from Aaron Freiwald of Legal Times. Freiwald accused her of reporting on Supreme Court nominee Douglas Ginsburg’s exaggerated resume without crediting his previous work. Additionally, in 1992, Vanity Fair highlighted the backlash Totenberg faced from Republicans for airing Anita Hill’s confidential affidavit during Clarence Thomas’s Supreme Court nomination hearings.
Questionable Comments and Friendships
In 1995, Totenberg expressed regret for commenting that Senator Jesse Helms could suffer from AIDS as retribution for his stance on research funding cuts. Her rapport with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg later became another flashpoint. Totenberg disclosed their long-standing friendship only after Ginsburg’s passing, which raised questions about journalistic integrity and potential conflicts of interest. NPR had seldom mentioned this connection over the years.
Disputed Reports
More recently, in 2022, Totenberg reported that Justice Neil Gorsuch declined to wear a mask despite Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s COVID-19 concerns. The report suggested Chief Justice John Roberts had instructed justices to wear masks. Fox News and Supreme Court statements contradicting these claims followed, leading NPR to defend Totenberg’s reporting.
Nina Totenberg, a veteran journalist for NPR, continues to be a subject of public and media scrutiny due to her controversial reporting incidents over the years.