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[quote=Anonymous]The WaPo really failed to do their job on this story.  
[quote]
Nine days after The New York Times reported about the political symbolism of an upside-down American flag that flew at U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s home, the Washington Post acknowledged it had the same story more than three years ago and decided not to publish it.

Alito has said that his wife, Martha-Ann Alito, raised the flag as part of a dispute with neighbors who had placed “personally insulting” yard signs directed at them. Judges traditionally avoid partisan symbols to maintain the appearance of neutrality in political disputes that may come before them.

Nowhere in the story, however, does the Post say that its decision more than three years ago was wrong, and a spokesperson on Tuesday declined to elaborate.

Kathleen Culver, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin, said it was a bad call. And, she added, if she were at the Post she would have argued for the paper to be more forthcoming.

While Martha-Ann Alito has the right to her own opinions, a flag like that shouldn’t be on display outside the home of a U.S. Supreme Court justice, Culver said. “It’s a flag that flies in the face of the neutrality that the Supreme Court is supposed to be observing,” she said.

When a since-retired Post reporter visited the Alito home in January 2021, after the flag had been taken down, Martha-Ann Alito pointed out that an upside-down flag has long been interpreted as a symbol of distress, the newspaper said.

A FORMER SENIOR EDITOR SAYS IT WAS HIS CALL
The publication Semafor reported that Cameron Barr, then the Post’s senior managing editor, said he took responsibility for the decision. He said he suggested the newspaper write about the neighborhood dispute, with the flag as one element. But that wasn’t done and Barr expressed regret for not pushing harder for it. Barr left the Post in 2023.[/quote][/quote]

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