Bernie Sanders Starts Own Show On Facebook Live

Bernie Sanders Image by getty images

By Daniel J. Solomon April 12, 2017

After decades of attacking the mainstream media for its corporate ownership, Bernie Sanders has found a way to speak without a filter to the public, launching his own talk show that’s now airing on Facebook Live.

“It gives me an opportunity to speak directly to many millions of people about the work that we’re doing about the issues that we consider to be important,” the Vermont senator told NBC News.

Now on his fourth episode, he’s used the platform to highlight concerns of his – like campaign finance reform and climate change – and bring on guests like New Yorker writer Jane Mayer and “Science Guy” Bill Nye.

Mayer told NBC that her experience on the program was pleasant, but also surreal. “Bernie playing reporter, me playing interview subject, and he whacking the [mainstream media] with me defending it! I felt like I was in an Escher drawing!” said. “The hardest part for me was to not be able to pose questions back at him.”

But it’s not the Vermont independent’s first time as a television personality. Back in the ‘80’s – when he was the mayor of Burlington, Vermont – he did a cable access show called “Bernie Speaks.”

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

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