NPR could have avoided the whole debacle if it had just opted for a different kind of fake news, the one I call “Psychic News,” as in “Sources Say Justice Alito Is Considering Retirement.” Everyone is used to that crap, especially regarding what President Trump ‘is reported to be considering.” It’s not valid news either, and it’s usually a lie, but it isn’t flat out demonstrably false.

Making this res ipsa loquitur evidence of irresponsible, incompetent and untrustworthy journalism especially tasty is that its author was ancient (82) Ethics Dunce Nina Totenberg, who has posed for more than four decades an an objective reporter covering the Supreme Court while her partisan bias has been as obvious as her always present smirk. Totenberg infamously never alerted listeners that she was close friends with progressive Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg while the reporter was routinely sliming the conservative Justices on the Court and their opinions.

Here is NPR’s official announcement of the indefensible botch:

Not good enough, not by a mile. The “error” should have been realized instantly, because the error was not confirming or even checking the story. If it had turned out to true, that would have only been moral luck rescuing shoddy journalism.

NPR proceeded to botch the explanation, changing Totenberg’s story after her “All Things Considered” exposition. She referred to her conduct as a “rookie mistake,” reminding some unkind conservative commentators that she had already made her one permissible rookie mistake when she was more like a real rookie: Totenberg was fired by the National Observer in 1972 for plagiarism. She later said: “I was in a hurry. I used terrible judgment. A young reporter is entitled to one mistake and to have the holy bejeezus scared out of her to never do it again.”

So much for that theory…