No one is more mortified by a mistake than a journalist committed to factual reporting. The best own up to it, correct it and apologize for it, as
@NinaTotenberg has done. It's worth remembering a long career dedicated to getting it right.
Totenberg read the text of the apology message she sent to Justice Alito:
"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 was going on inside, to which the answer was, 'retirement announcements.' I didn't hear the 's' on 'announcements,' and I 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."