The Supreme Court concluded their term yesterday with several important rulings. Accordingly, a large number of media was there including NPR’s long time legal correspondent, Nina Totenberg.
It was not a good day for her.
As you may have heard, she erroneously reported that Judge Samuel Alito was retiring. He isn’t. What happened was as Totenberg left the court, she noticed others hadn’t and asked someone outside what was going on. They replied that Chief Justice Roberts was announcing “retirements” (i.e., those on staff who were leaving). Totenberg heard “retirement” singular and her mind flashed to Judge Alito—rumored to be considering retirement. She contacted NPR and based on that; the story was released.
Totenberg realized almost immediately that she had made a mistake, contacted NPR again, and they published a retraction. The erroneous news was on their website for six minutes and corrected on air not long after that. Totenberg apologized to Judge Alito, and went on the afternoon show, All Things Considered, where she openly discussed her blunder saying, “It was a rookie mistake.”
But the damage was done.
There are (at least) a couple of important lessons here for all of us. The first concerns Totenberg’s candid admission concerning her glaring error. Someone might say that she did the only thing she could do, but that’s not true. She didn’t obfuscate, deflect, say she couldn’t remember, or tell us she’d get back to us. She immediately owned her mistake and did everything in her power to repair the damage from it. Sadly, it’s rare to see this anymore. Everyone is so concerned about controlling their image they must consult with several people before they’ll say anything. You have to appreciate Totenberg’s straightforwardness. It is an example for us when we’ve blown it.
The other lesson is about short cuts. We’ve all taken them. Sometimes we’ve been burned and sometimes we’ve gotten away with it. But there are certain things in life (like reporting the news), raising children, or telling the truth, where there is no place for shortcuts. Due diligence is the order of the day and a failure to do anything less is a failure.
We live in a culture where there’s a rush to publish—for a traditional news organization like NPR or just someone trying to beat everyone else on social media so their post will be the one that goes viral. We’re more concerned about speed than accuracy. Long ago, a wise person observed, “The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”
Those are words to live and publish by.
A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green 