"Rookie Mistake"

It isn't especially important, but I was struck by Totenberg's description of her retracted report about Alito retiring.

NPR’s eminent Supreme Court correspondent Nina Totenberg says she made a “rookie mistake” on Tuesday morning, and that’s why she reported that Justice Samuel Alito was retiring.

It's  the opposite of that! No "rookie" would make this "mistake"! No editor would let them! Only someone for whom special rules apply could have done this! It's an elite access journalist mistake!