In early January 2021, the Washington Post reported that a flag flying outside Justice Samuel Alito’s Virginia home was not newsworthy on its own. However, this story was later picked up by The New York Times, which revealed that Alito’s wife had raised the flag in the midst of a neighborhood dispute involving supporters of former President Donald Trump who believed the election was rigged against him.
Nine days after the incident gained national attention, the Washington Post admitted that they had known about it for three years but had chosen not to report on it. Former senior managing editor Cameron Barr took responsibility for the decision and explained that there was a consensus among the staff at the time.
However, looking back, Barr expressed regret for not pushing harder for a more nuanced and comprehensive story. He acknowledged in a phone interview with Semafor that while they never pursued an angle focusing solely on the flag incident, it would have been worth exploring as part of a larger narrative about the neighborhood dispute.
