Bernie Sanders Deserves Better Fact-Checking, NPR Isn't What It Used To Be, And Diane Rehm Sucks Eggs

Brendan James at TPM:

Rehm

An interview with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) stopped in its tracks on Wednesday when NPR's Diane Rehm repeatedly pressed the Democratic presidential candidate whether he was a citizen of Israel.

"Senator, you have dual citizenship with Israel," Rehm said during the interview on her nationally broadcast show based on station WAMU.

Sanders

"Well, no I do not have dual citizenship with Israel," Sanders, who is Jewish, interjected. "I'm an American. I don't know where that question came from. I am an American citizen, and I have visited Israel on a couple of occasions. I'm an American citizen, period."

Rehm cited "a list we have gotten" at NPR that said Sanders was "on that list."

And again by Brendan James:

After an interview in which she incorrectly stated the presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was a dual-Israeli-US citizen, NPR's Diane Rehm told TPM she made "a mistake" and got the information from Facebook.

The whole incident is already up on Wikipedia, but hey, can you really believe something on Wikipedia when it is contradicted by "a comment on Facebook," which is how Rehm described her source? [/sarcasm]

I am impressed that Sanders is taken seriously enough that NPR (or perhaps only Rehm) finds it necessary to run an unverified hit piece on him. And Diane Rehm should have her press pass revoked for not bothering to verify something that she read on Facebook. (Facebook? really?)