Just days after NPR was publicly embarrassed for publishing a pre-written article falsely announcing the retirement of conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, the Hill published an article detailing the life of Sen. Mitch McConnell after health concerns arose from a a lengthy hospital stay for the long-time Republican senator.
The Hill publishes premature article titled “DO NOT USE: A lookback at Mitch McConnell’s time in the Senate” amid rumors over McConnell’s health
— Politics & Poll Tracker 📡 (@PollTracker2024) July 6, 2026
Screenshot credit: @TNOQuoProQuid pic.twitter.com/HwY3mserLJ
To make matters worse, the headline for the article featured a tag in all capitals instructing staff to “DO NOT USE.” Somehow, the seemingly airtight security measure against publishing pre-written articles didn’t hold up. Worse still, a copy of the article remained live on Yahoo for an extended period past the removal of the article from the Hill’s website.
The copy is still up on Yahoo News
— Politics & Poll Tracker 📡 (@PollTracker2024) July 6, 2026
Link to article: https://t.co/SAPfCvshLX https://t.co/9lNOSoxYWz pic.twitter.com/PmRkQK9xJz
Many took the opportunity to poke fun at the Hill and NPR for their lax editorial practices that made the errors possible.
Published-too-early pre-writes are having a renaissance right now https://t.co/Bh4tSNXMhZ
— Brad Johnson (@bradj_TX) July 7, 2026
THEY USED https://t.co/JMmW7wbxqT
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) July 7, 2026
The question remains, which outlet will be the next to errantly “break” news that never happened?