Totenberg’s deep friendship with Ginsburg was known to her editors, who kept her on the Supreme Court beat. The relationship was mentioned in some of their joint appearances, but it was seldom disclosed in Totenberg’s hundreds of reports on the Supreme Court, and never in detail. The extent of their bond became public only when Totenberg broadcast a nine-minute appreciation of Ginsburg after her death, drawing the attention media ethicists.
A Washington Post columnist cautiously observed that the “traditional journalistic practice is to avoid such entanglements, or at least disclose them so that readers can judge for themselves.” A media writer for the Poynter Institute went further, stating that “Totenberg should have recused herself from covering Ginsburg or the Supreme Court.”
NPR’s public editor (responsible for “independent accountability”) was also troubled, writing that NPR had failed to be sufficiently transparent about the relationship.
NPR’S decisionmaking has remained shrouded to this day. Although unmentioned in “Dinners with Ruth,” Totenberg twice refused the public editor’s interview requests. NPR higher-ups declined to specify whatever “editing measures . . . were in place to ensure independent and fair news judgment around stories concerning Ginsburg and the rest of the Supreme Court.”
Totenberg has been unapologetic.
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Investigative Issues: Nina Totenberg's Conflicts of Interest With Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
