Nina Totenberg is the exception, not the rule, and NPR leaders should say so
Nina Totenberg is a rarity in journalism, a reporter who has spent more than 40 years covering one beat: the Supreme Court. Her tenure is longer than that of any of the current justices sitting on the bench. Her memoir, Dinners with Ruth, chronicles the many close friendships she has cultivated over almost five decades of work, including most famously with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The book documents Totenberg's unique career and connections not only with Ginsburg but with several other justices and powerful public servants. This history makes Totenberg both an exceptional asset and an exception to the conventions that govern reporter-source boundaries.
This dynamic has not been lost on the audience of NPR. Listeners and readers (and quite a few book reviewers) are asking whether Totenberg's relationships with her sources divide her loyalties. The NPR leaders interviewed for this column universally stand behind their ace reporter and say there's no problem at all.
Audience questions go beyond dinners with Ginsburg
Totenberg, NPR's legal affairs correspondent, wasn't close just to Ginsburg. After Justice Antonin Scalia died in 2016, Totenberg disclosed with him on . The book offers further details about the development of tight friendships with Solicitor General Ted Olson and Justice Lewis Powell Jr. For years, Justice William Brennan Jr. rebuffed her invitations. Totenberg describes her persistence in developing that relationship. He finally relents and comes to her home for dinner with Totenberg's sister, Amy Totenberg, a lawyer and later a judge.
