Diane Rehm#2015 Bernie Sanders interview

Rehm was born in Washington, D.C. According to Rehm's autobiography, Finding My Voice, her father's family were Eastern Orthodox Christians from Ottoman Mersin, a city on the southern coast of Anatolia. According to Rehm, the family were Lebanese, and her mother was fluent in both French and Arabic. Rehm's father immigrated to the United States in 1911, following his older brothers. He returned to Mersin to marry her mother, but found that she and her family were living in Alexandria, Egypt. He brought her to the United States in 1929; family memories of how the two met vary.{{cite book|last=Rehm|first=Diane|title=Finding My Voice|year=1999|publisher=Capital Books, Inc.|location=Herndon, Virginia}} In a 2012 interview in The Washingtonian, she describes her father as coming from Beirut, Lebanon.{{cite news|last1=Harris|first1=Shane|title=What Made Me: NPR's Diane Rehm|url=http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/people/what-made-me-nprs-diane-rehm/|access-date=11 June 2015|work=The Washingtonian|date=11 April 2012}}

Rehm attended William B. Powell Elementary and Roosevelt High School in Washington, D.C. Upon graduation, she was employed by the city's highways department, where she became a radio dispatcher.{{citation needed|date=November 2011}}

Rehm married John Rehm, her second husband, in 1959; he was working at the State Department, where she was working as a secretary. John Rehm died June 23, 2014,{{cite news|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/washingtonpost/obituary.aspx?n=john-b-rehm&pid=171467459|title=JOHN B. REHM|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=October 13, 2014}} after he stopped eating and drinking to end his suffering from Parkinson's disease.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}} After his death, Rehm became a staunch advocate for medical aid in dying, arguing that no one should suffer needlessly in the way that her husband did.{{cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/diane-rehm-my-husbands-slow-deliberate-death-was-unnecessary-n150096 |title=Diane Rehm: My Husband's Slow, Deliberate Death Was Unnecessary |work=NBC News |date=July 8, 2014 |first=Maggie |last=Fox |access-date=April 30, 2016}}{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/npr-host-diane-rehm-emerges-as-a-key-force-in-the-right-to-die-debate/2015/02/14/12b72230-ad50-11e4-9c91-e9d2f9fde644_story.html |title=NPR host Diane Rehm emerges as key force in the right-to-die debate |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=February 14, 2015 |first=Michael S. |last=Rosenwald |access-date=April 30, 2016}}

She has two adult children, David and Jennifer, and two grandchildren. On October 14, 2017, Diane Rehm and John Hagedorn were married at the Washington National Cathedral.

In 1998, Rehm began having difficulty speaking normally. Eventually, she was treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital and was diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia, a neurological condition that affects the quality of her voice. The condition is treatable but not curable. After a short break, Rehm's career continued and her radio show went on until December 2016.{{cite news|last1=Weeks|first1=Linton|title=Diane Rehm finds a voice of her own|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/features/daily/rehm0823.htm|access-date=November 12, 2014|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=August 23, 1999}}

Rehm is a practicing Episcopalian. She was close friends with Jane Holmes Dixon, the second woman to be consecrated as a bishop in the Episcopal Church, who she met while attending St. Patrick's Episcopal Church in Washington.{{cite web | title=Diane Interviews Her Best Friend, Jane Holmes Dixon (Rebroadcast) | website=Diane Rehm | date=2016-12-31 | url=https://dianerehm.org/shows/2016-12-28/diane-interviews-her-best-friend-jane-holmes-dixon-rebroadcast | ref={{sfnref | Diane Rehm | 2016}} | access-date=2024-08-05}}

Rehm began her radio career in 1973{{cite web |url=http://www.networkwomen.com/0904/coverstory/0904_coverstory.html |title=Networking: Whos Whos, Whats What for Business Executives, "The Diane Rehm Show," A WOMAN'S VOICE |publisher=Networking Magazine |author=Gatewood, Miranda |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060328080345/http://www.networkwomen.com/0904/coverstory/0904_coverstory.html |archive-date=March 28, 2006 |df=mdy-all }} as a volunteer for WAMU's The Home Show. In 1979, she took over as the host of WAMU's morning talk show, Kaleidoscope, which was renamed The Diane Rehm Show in 1984.

Rehm has interviewed many political and cultural figures, including John McCain, Barack Obama, and Madeleine Albright. She has said that her most touching interview was with Fred Rogers of the PBS program Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, conducted just before his death. Rehm has described her interviews with Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton to have been "amazing experiences."{{cite news |title=Rehm is the queen of talk radio |publisher=The Beacon |date=January 2010 |author=Ruben, Barbara}}

She has written three autobiographical books. The first, Finding My Voice, dealt with her traditional upbringing in a Christian Arab household, her brief first marriage and divorce, her 50-year marriage to John Rehm, raising her children, the first 20 years of her radio career, and her battles with depression, and spasmodic dysphonia.{{cite web |url=http://www.wamu.org/programs/dr/diane_rehm/finding_my_voice.php |title=The Diane Rehm Show: Finding My Voice |publisher=WAMU 88.5 FM, American University Radio |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060812140031/http://www.wamu.org/programs/dr/diane_rehm/finding_my_voice.php |archive-date=August 12, 2006 |df=mdy-all }} Together with John Rehm she co-wrote Toward Commitment: A Dialogue About Marriage, which was published in 2002.

Her memoir, On My Own,{{cite book|author=Diane Rehm |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25489107-on-my-own |title=On My Own by Diane Rehm — Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists |website=Goodreads.com |isbn=978-1-101-87528-5 |access-date=2016-04-21}}{{cite book|url=http://www.booklistonline.com/On-My-Own-Diane-Rehm/pid=7885061 |title=On My Own, by Diane Rehm |publisher=Booklist Online |access-date=2016-04-21}}{{cite web|last=Holleran |first=Andrew |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/diane-rehm/on-my-own/ |title=ON MY OWN by Diane Rehm |publisher=Kirkus Reviews |date=2016-02-02 |access-date=2016-04-21}} was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2016.{{cite news|last=Lindbergh |first=Reeve |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/review-in-on-my-own-diane-rehm-argues-for-the-right-to-die/2016/01/22/665c2968-b34d-11e5-a842-0feb51d1d124_story.html |title=Review: In 'On My Own,' Diane Rehm argues for the right to die |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=2016-04-21}}

The final broadcast of The Diane Rehm Show was aired on December 23, 2016.Folkenflik, David. "[https://www.npr.org/2016/12/23/506653136/radios-diane-rehm-a-mainstay-of-civil-discourse-signs-off Radio's Diane Rehm, A Mainstay Of Civil Discourse, Signs Off]". Morning Edition. National Public Radio. December 23, 2016. Rehm remained on the WAMU payroll as she started her podcast. During an all-staff meeting in 2024, she criticized the station's decision to shutter DCist and lay off staff.{{cite news |last1=Beaujon |first1=Andrew |title=Why Did WAMU Close DCist? - Washingtonian |url=https://www.washingtonian.com/2024/04/19/why-did-wamu-close-dcist/ |access-date=13 March 2025 |date=19 April 2024}} In March 2025, Rehm announced she had taken a buyout from American University. Her last day is May 2.{{cite news |last1=Branigin |first1=Anne |last2=Gibson |first2=Caitlin |last3=Grandoni |first3=Dino |last4=Barr |first4=Jeremy |last5=Wagner |first5=Laura |title=Diane Rehm parts ways with WAMU |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2025/03/14/diane-rehm-wamu-buyout/ |access-date=15 March 2025 |work=The Washington Post |date=14 March 2025}}

In 2005, a private study funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting reported that Rehm booked 22 liberal guests for every 5 conservative guests. The study was criticized as a politicized attempt to, in Rehm's word, "scare" journalists with the accusation of liberal bias. One criticism of the study concerned its criteria of what constituted "liberal" – a category which included seemingly moderate Republicans such as Senator Chuck Hagel and former Representative Bob Barr.{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/30/AR2005063002029.html |title=CPB Liberal Bias Study Flawed, Critics Say |website=Washingtonpost.com |date=July 1, 2005|access-date=2016-04-21}} The study was commissioned by Kenneth Tomlinson, whose appointment to the chairmanship of the CPB by George W. Bush had been criticized by liberals as politically motivated. Tomlinson hired Indiana consultant Frederick W. Mann, a conservative thinker previously associated with the Young America's Foundation, which has described itself as "the principal outreach organization of the Conservative Movement".{{cite web|url=http://www.journalism.org/node/868 |title=Kenneth Tomlinson & the Mann Report |website=Project for Excellence in Journalism|date=March 13, 2006|access-date=May 25, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090509160659/http://journalism.org/node/868 |archive-date=May 9, 2009 }}

A report on the study by the CPB's Inspector General, Kenneth Konz, criticized Tomlinson's methods; the report led to Tomlinson's immediate resignation in November 2005.{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/03/AR2005110302235.html |title=Kenneth Tomlinson Quits Public Broadcasting Board |website=Washingtonpost.com |date=2005-11-04 |access-date=2016-04-21}} According to The Washington Post, Rehm personally "called Mann's findings 'unprofessional and simplistic.' [and] added 'I've been booking shows for 25 years. I don't think they have any idea what it takes to achieve the professionalism and expertise and the right people to express a variety of points of view. . . . What [Kenneth Tomlinson]'s doing, I think, is trying to scare public broadcasters.' "

Rehm has been featured in three political movie documentaries: Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains, I.O.U.S.A.,{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2274266/ |title=Diane Rehm |website=IMDb |access-date=August 25, 2012}} and Dinesh D'Souza's 2016: Obama's America which used her quote, "And then you've got the cover of Forbes magazine, a cover story by Dinesh D'Souza. I think nothing has turned my stomach so much in recent years as reading that piece."{{cite web|url=http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-09-17/news-roundup-hour-1/transcript |title=News Roundup: Hour 1 |access-date=August 25, 2012}}

{{See also|Media coverage of Bernie Sanders}}

On June 10, 2015, Rehm interviewed 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, and stated that Sanders had dual citizenship with Israel; this was not true.{{cite news |last=Gold |first=Hadas |author-link=Hadas Gold|date=June 10, 2015 |title=Bernie Sanders offended by Diane Rehm's Israeli citizenship question |url=http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2015/06/diane-rehm-asks-bernie-sanders-about-alleged-israeli-208583.html |newspaper=Politico |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=June 10, 2015 }}{{cite news |last=Tesfaye |first=Sophia |date=June 10, 2015 |title=Diane Rehm's massive Bernie Sanders "oops": NPR host falls for anti-Semitic Israeli citizenship hoax |url=http://www.salon.com/2015/06/10/diane_rehms_massive_bernie_sanders_oops_npr_host_falls_for_anti_semitic_israeli_citizenship_hoax/ |newspaper=Salon |location=San Francisco, California |access-date=June 10, 2015}}{{cite news |last=Reback |first=Gedalyah |date=June 10, 2015 |title=Radio host quizzes Jewish candidate Sanders on Israeli citizenship |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/radio-host-quizzes-jewish-candidate-sanders-on-israeli-citizenship/ |newspaper=The Times of Israel |location=Jerusalem, Israel |access-date=June 10, 2015}} Sanders denied that he holds dual citizenship, but Rehm repeated her assertion of the senator's dual citizenship as a fact. Sophia Tesfaye of Salon pointed out that Rehm apparently fell for an antisemitic canard and did not successfully fact-check her information before she conducted her interview with Sanders. In The Times of Israel, Gedalyah Reback stated that the interview was controversial because Rehm seemed to have accused a Jewish U.S. presidential candidate of maintaining secret Israeli citizenship.

Rehm apologized for her exchange with Sanders in a statement released later that day. "On today's show I made a mistake. Rather than asking if 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. 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."{{cite news |last=Hensch |first=Mark |date=June 10, 2015 |title=Sanders blasts Internet 'nonsense': 'I do not have dual citizenship with Israel' |url=https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/244554-sanders-i-do-not-have-dual-citizenship-with-israel/ |newspaper=The Hill |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=10 June 2015}} Jewish Journalist Josh Marshall called her apology "a total crock."{{cite news|last1=Marshall|first1=Josh|title=Sorry, Diane, That's BS|url=http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/sorry-diane-thats-bs|access-date=12 June 2015|publisher=Talking Points Memo|date=11 June 2015}} Jewish Law professor David Bernstein found it strange that both Rehm and her producer fell for what he felt was an obvious anti-Semitic hoax. He speculated that frequently-heard strange accusations about Jewish supporters of Israel may have played a role.{{cite news|last1=Bernstein|first1=David|title=Why did Diane Rehm fall for an anti-Semitic hoax?|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/06/11/why-did-diane-rehm-fall-for-an-anti-semitic-hoax/|access-date=12 June 2015|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=11 June 2015}} Elizabeth Jepsen, NPR's ombudsman, took issue with both Rehm's interview and apology: "Far from putting anything to rest, Rehm has now taken a falsehood from the fringes of the Internet and moved it into the mainstream conversation."{{cite news|last1=Jepsen|first1=Elizabeth|title=Diane Rehm And A Bungled Interview With Senator Bernie Sanders|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/ombudsman/2015/06/12/413981429/diane-rehm-and-a-bungled-interview-with-senator-bernie-sanders|access-date=13 June 2015|publisher=NPR|date=12 June 2015}}

Following the 2014{{citation|newspaper=The Washington Post|first=Michael|last=Rosenwald |date=March 10, 2015 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2015/03/09/following-criticism-npr-host-diane-rehm-scales-back-efforts-in-right-to-die-debate/ |title=Following criticism, NPR host Diane Rehm scales back efforts in right-to-die debate |page=B-3}} death of her husband—who was unable to get physician assisted suicide drugs due to their illegality in Maryland—Rehm became an advocate for right to die.{{citation|newspaper=The Washington Post|first=Michael S.|last=Rosenwald |date=February 14, 2015 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/npr-host-diane-rehm-emerges-as-a-key-force-in-the-right-to-die-debate/2015/02/14/12b72230-ad50-11e4-9c91-e9d2f9fde644_story.html |title=NPR host Diane Rehm emerges as key force in the right-to-die debate}} NPR's ombudsman deemed that her related fundraising for Compassion & Choices violated the NPR ethical standards, and she agreed to stop attending fundraising dinners.

In February 2020 she published a book containing 40 interviews with people involved in and holding different views on questions related to the end-of-life care and the right-to-die movement. Titled When My Time Comes: Conversations About Whether Those Who Are Dying Should Have the Right to Determine When Life Should End, its foreword was contributed by John Grisham. She also collaborated with Joe Fab on a documentary with the same title that was aired in April 2021 on PBS.{{citation|website=PBS|url=https://www.pbs.org/video/when-my-time-comes/|title=When My Time Comes: Conversations About Whether Those Who Are Dying Should Have the Right to Determine When Life Should End.}}

A partial list of Rehm's honors and awards:

• 1999 Washingtonian of the Year by Washingtonian magazine.
• 2000 Fellow of the Society of Professional Journalists, honoring extraordinary contributions to journalism.
• 2003 Calvary Women's Services Hope award, honoring her volunteer and professional work for women in need.
• 2003 Montgomery County Chapter of the National Organization for Women's Susan B. Anthony Award, honoring her advocacy of women's right in the community.
• 2006 Urbino Press Award
• 2009 Peabody Award (presented in 2010){{cite web|url=http://www.peabodyawards.com/award-profile/personal-award-diane-rehm |title=Personal Award: Diane Rehm |publisher=The Peabody Awards |access-date=2016-04-21}}
• 2010 Foremother Award for Lifetime Achievement from the National Research Center for Women & Families
• 2013 ACCESS Arab-American of the Year{{Cite web|url=http://www.vcstar.com/news/2013/apr/27/access-honors-arab-americans-of-the-year-at/|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130630132600/http://www.vcstar.com/news/2013/apr/27/access-honors-arab-americans-of-the-year-at/|url-status=dead|title=ACCESS honors Arab Americans of the Year at event » Ventura County Star|accessdate=April 1, 2021|archivedate=June 30, 2013}}
• 2014 National Humanities Medal{{cite web|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/photos-and-video/video/2014/07/28/president-presents-2013-national-medal-arts-and-national-humanitie#transcript|title=The President Presents the 2013 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal|access-date=October 13, 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170618233050/https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/photos-and-video/video/2014/07/28/president-presents-2013-national-medal-arts-and-national-humanitie#transcript|archive-date=June 18, 2017|via=National Archives|work=whitehouse.gov|df=mdy-all}}
• 2017 Walter Cronkite Faith and Freedom Award{{cite web |url=http://interfaithalliance.org/diane-rehm-khizr-khan-receive-2017-walter-cronkite-faith-freedom-award-interfaith-alliance/ |title=Diane Rehm and Khizr Khan to Receive 2017 Walter Cronkite Faith & Freedom Award from Interfaith Alliance |work=Interfaith Alliance |date=January 12, 2017 |access-date=January 31, 2017}}

• When My Time Comes: Conversations About Whether Those Who Are Dying Should Have the Right to Determine When Life Should End (Knopf, 2020). {{ISBN|9780525654759}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category-inline}}

• [http://thedianerehmshow.org/ The Diane Rehm Show official site]
• {{IMDb name|id=2274266}}
• [https://whenmytimecomesmovie.com When My Time Comes documentary film website]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw3aj9VC3tw&t=1045s Autor in conversation with Kojo Nnamdi], sponsored by Politics and Prose in Washington, D. C. on 3 February 2020
• {{C-SPAN|6529}}

{{IWMF awards}}

{{NPR}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rehm, Diane}}

Category:1936 births

Category:Living people

Category:American Episcopalians

Category:American people of Lebanese descent

Category:American radio journalists

Category:American talk radio hosts

Category:Middle Eastern Christians

Category:American people of Syrian descent

Category:Dispatchers

Category:National Humanities Medal recipients

Category:NPR personalities

Category:Peabody Award winners

Category:Radio personalities from Washington, D.C.

Category:American women radio journalists

Category:American women radio hosts

Category:21st-century American women