NPR retracts ‘inaccurate’ story saying supreme court justice Samuel Alito retiring

Samuel Alito in Rome last year. A court spokesperson called NPR’s reporting ‘inaccurate’. Photograph: Vincenzo Livieri/Reuters

The US public broadcasting organization National Public Radio (NPR) on Tuesday took the unusual step of formally retracting a major news story, after it published what seemed like a bombshell scoop that the supreme court justice Samuel Alito was retiring.

The story was written by Nina Totenberg, 82, one of the most prominent chroniclers of the supreme court in American media. NPR later explained that Totenberg had misheard a court announcement about upcoming retirements.