All Things Considered, NPR Needs A Research Team

Bob Schieffer, referred to in the CBS post as the legendry Bob Schieffer, had quite a bit to say about the roll of the media in the modern era.

“We now don’t know where people get their news, but what we do know is they’re bombarded with information 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Most of the information is wrong and some of it is wrong on purpose,” Schieffer said. “It is our job, I think, in mainstream journalism to try to cut through this mall of information and tell people what we think is relevant in what they need to know. That is the job of the journalist and I have to say it’s harder and harder.”

One might opine that Schieffer understates the problem. I'm glad that for decades he cut through the mall of information to tell us what he thinks we need to know but there seems to be an easier way. Look it up on Facebook. Witness this exchange between goofy Senator Bernie Sanders and NPR's goofy Diane Rehm.

Diane Rehm: Senator, you have dual citizenship with Israel.
Bernie Sanders: Well, no, I do not have dual citizenship with Israel. 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. No, I’m an American citizen, period.
Rehm: I understand from a list we have gotten that you were on that list.
Sanders: No.
Rehm: Forgive me if that is—
Sanders: That’s some of the nonsense that goes on in the Internet. But that is absolutely not true.

What kind of list did Rehm and NPR have? A list of suspected fifth columnists? Where does Rehm get her information? From the NSA or the Southern Poverty Law Center. No. Rehm revealed her source in her much needed apology.
“On today’s show I made a mistake. Rather than asking Senator and Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders whether he had dual U.S./Israeli citizenship, as I had read in a comment on Facebook, I stated it as fact. He corrected me, saying he did not know where the question came from. I apologized immediately,” Rehm said. “I want to apologize as well to all our listeners for having made an erroneous statement. I am sorry for the mistake. However, I am glad to play a role in putting this rumor to rest.”
She trolls comments on Facebook to research her interviews?  As I said Schieffer understated the problem.