Bob Garfield

Host, On The Media

Bob Garfield appears in the following:

The Problem of Knock-Off Books

Friday, November 23, 2012

Buying a cheap knock-off is not just a problem with watches and hand bags—if you go onto Amazon's website to buy the latest bestseller, you might accidentally end up with an imitation book. Bob speaks to Fortune senior editor Stephen Gandel, who looked into the knock offs on Amazon, and found a number of books that he says were clearly meant to confuse people by trading off of more popular titles.

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Taking On Amazon

Friday, November 23, 2012

Most big publishers fear running afoul of Amazon, but one very small publisher has proven to be fearless. Bob talks to Randall White, who pulled all of his company's books from Amazon's web site.

Quartetto d’Archi Dell’Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi - Paperback Writer

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Steal My Book, Please

Friday, November 23, 2012

Russians have access to more than 100,000 pirated e-books and just 60,000 legitimate e-books. For some authors and publishers the theft is infuriating, but others take the view that it’s good to have your book out there in front of eyes no matter what the cost.  Bob speaks with Peter Mountford, author of A Young Man’s Guide to Late Capitalism,’  who didn't just turn a blind eye to his book being pirated, but actually helped the process along.

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Petraeus's Relationship with Journalists

Friday, November 16, 2012

Journalists that covered David Petraeus, both in his capacity as a General in Iraq and Afghanistan, and later as the director of the CIA, have done a lot of public soul searching in the wake of his recent scandal. Bob speaks to international investigative reporter Jon Lee Anderson about what he sees as the media's failings in covering Petraeus.

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Is Anybody Down?

Friday, November 16, 2012

A website called "Is Anybody Down" has popped up to fill the niche that was left when the revenge porn site "Is Anyone Up" shut down in April of this year. Like its predecessor, the site allows users to submit naked photos of other people and include links to the naked person's social networking page. But according to attorney Marc Randazza, this website's business model is slightly different from Is Anyone Up, and is of questionable legality. Bob talks to Randazza and Is Anybody Down's founder Craig Brittain.

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The IDF's Twitter Offensive

Friday, November 16, 2012

As the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) fired missles into Gaza this week, they did something unprecedented in military history: they tweeted about it. As the fighting unfolded, the IDF carried out a real-time social media campaign, posting justifications, combat videos, and propaganda posters to Twitter and to a dedicated live blog. Bob talks to Noah Shachtman, editor of Wired.com's Danger Room blog, who tries to explain the IDF's logic and put their media offensive in perspective.

Clive Carroll & John Renbourn - First Drive

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A Black Box Behind A Bamboo Curtain

Friday, November 09, 2012

China is about to have an "election" of its own, with the assembly of the 18th Chinese Communist Party Congress happening this week. In addition to handing over power from one Paramount leader to the next, the Congress will oversee the appointment of the Standing Committee—the group of people who run China. Trying to figure out why they're chosen is often an exercise in the absurd for foreign journalists. Bob speaks with Time Magazine's Hannah Beech who describes what it's like to cover the party congress.

The Weeknd - Thursday

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Grading Obama's First Term

Friday, November 09, 2012

With one term down and one more to go, we take a look at how well the first Obama administration did on some of the issues OTM cares about most: surveillance, transparency, whistleblowers, and press access. Brooke and Bob speak with The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald, the Sunlight Foundation's Lisa Rosenberg, and ABC's White House correspondent Jake Tapper about Obama's first four years, and what they expect in the next four.

Nathan Salsburg_Eight Belles Dreamt the Devil Was Dead

Nathan Salsburg - Eight Belles Dreamt the Devil Was Dead

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How Negative was this year's Election Coverage?

Friday, November 09, 2012

Bob talks to Mark Jurkowitz, Associate Director of the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, who studied the tone and scope of this year's election coverage. Jurkowitz says that the tone of this election season was extremely negative, both in mainstream and social media.

Deaf City - White Lake

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Seattle Times Purchases Political Ads

Friday, November 02, 2012

The Seattle Times Company has undertaken an experiment it says will show newspapers deserve more political ad dollars: buying and publishing political ads on its own pages. Readers have seen full-page ads in favor of the Republican candidate for governor, as well as ads in support of a referendum that would legalize gay marriage. Bob Garfield speaks with Eli Sanders of Seattle's alt-weekly The Stranger, about why the ads have infuriated subscribers and the newspaper's staff, while leaving everyone else scratching their heads.

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How to Sort Good information from Bad on Twitter

Friday, November 02, 2012

Last week's storm highlighted Twitter's role as a useful (and occasionally infuriating) source of information during an emergency. OTM producer PJ Vogt talks to Bob about how to find accurate information on the platform while mostly avoiding the chaff. 

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Hurricane Hoaxes and Confused Reporting

Friday, November 02, 2012

The 24-hour news cycle and social media provided consumers with up to the minute images and information about the toll of Sandy. Too bad some of those images and information were both woefully incorrect and deliberately misleading. Brooke and Bob talk to the New Jersey Record's John Brennan and Salon's Laura Miller about how disasters plunge us into a media mix of the real, the unreal, and the unknown.

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Is Twitter Wrong?

Friday, November 02, 2012

Tom Phillips, the man behind a website called "Is Twitter Wrong?" worked hard during Sandy to debunk many of the false images of the storm and its aftermath. Bob speaks to Phillips about how easy it is to differentiate the real images from the fakes.

Helium - Aging Astronauts

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Facebook v. Europe

Friday, October 26, 2012

Europe has long taken a harder line towards global internet companies who make privacy incursions against their users and Facebook is no exception.  In the last few months, a couple of high-profile cases have seen European privacy fears realized.  We asked Marketplace reporter Christopher Werth to talk to a few of the people in Europe who’ve run up against Facebook recently to see if their experiences might tell us something about Facebook’s prospective practices in the US. 

The Outside Joke - My Mom’s on Facebook

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Life in Facebookistan

Friday, October 26, 2012

Writer Rebecca MacKinnon has compared Facebook to a country, she calls it Facebookistan. Facebookistan has 1 billion people, and an economy that rivals many countries'. Brooke and Bob talk to Jillian York and Clay Shirky about the contours of Facebookistan, and how it affects life in the actual world we live in.

Don & Juan - What’s Your Name

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That Little Thing Called "Like"

Friday, October 26, 2012

The Facebook "Like" button has ventured beyond the pages of Facebook. Now, not only can you tell your friends that you "Like" their comments, photos and status updates, you can also tell third-party site how much you "Like" a blog post or news article. Bob explores the meaning of a Facebook "Like."

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China's Fake Facebooks

Friday, October 26, 2012

Facebook is blocked in China –but that hasn’t prevented homegrown Facebook knock-off sites from sprouting. And even on China’s fake Facebooks,  real conversations about politics and culture are occurring every day. Jeremy Goldkorn, who monitors Chinese media at his website, talks to Bob about life on China's fake Facebooks.

Tito Nieves - I Like It Like That

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Red Bull, NASA, and Felix Baumgartner

Friday, October 19, 2012

This week, daredevil skydiver Felix Baumgartner broke the sound barrier—and world records—when he jumped in free fall from 24 miles above the earth’s surface. People around the world watched in awe, but some criticized the jump as a mere publicity stunt for its corporate sponsor, Red Bull Energy Drink. Bob talks with Esquire contributing editor Luke Dittrich about how Baumgartner's jump, publicity stunt or not, has valuable scientific implications beyond being a PR triumph.

Aphex Twin - Untitled (Four Tet Remix)

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The End of Endorsements

Friday, October 19, 2012

If you read the local paper in Boston, Denver, or Sacramento, soon you’re likely to see endorsements for candidates cropping up on the editorial page. But if you get your news in Atlanta, Chicago, or Tuscaloosa, you probably won’t. In recent years, papers in these cities have gotten out of the endorsement business. Bob talks to Kevin Riley, editor of Georgia's largest newspaper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, about his paper's decision to end editorial endorsements.

Ahmad Jamal - Tranquility

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Ad Nauseam

Friday, October 12, 2012

Voters in swing states are enduring a gauntlet of campaign advertising this election season. Reporter Seth Stevenson, who lives in New York City, decided to fly to one of those states (Ohio) and subjected himself to 45 hours of campaign advertising. It wasn't pleasant. Bob spoke with Stevenson, who wrote about the experiment for The New Republic.

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