(This was originally printed in The Guardian.)

We should all of us, media consumers, applaud the management of the Sacramento Bee, which this weekend courageously fired photographer Bryan Patrick for high crimes against journalism.

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."

Last week, public outrage forced congress to table some bills backed by Hollywood lobbyists that would have barred access to sites accused of piracy. But Hollywood’s influence extends well beyond the US Congress. Bob talks to Rainey Reitman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has created a website called Global Chokepoints that tracks pending or existing legislation worldwide (often pushed by the US and Hollywood) that would kick people or websites off the internet.

Dan Bull & Friends - SOPA Cabana

This week the Supreme Court decided a case called US v Jones about the constitutionality of warrantless GPS tracking. Bob talks to Orin Kerr, George Washington University law professor and blogger for The Volokh Conspiracy about what the Supreme Court's decision means for the future of GPS tracking by law enforcement.

As part of the Obama administration’s healthcare reform, patients will, for the first time, be able to see what money pharmaceutical companies are paying to physicians and how – every notepad, free trial and conference junket. Reporters Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber have, over the last 18 months, have been engaged in a kind of dry run, following a money trail that 13 pharma companies were legally required to disclose.  They speak to Bob about their work.

This week saw more then its share of internet drama. The US Government led a massive operation against the website MegaUpload. And dozens of major websites staged a blackout in protest of two proposed laws - the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act. Bob talks to Techdirt's Mike Masnick about the implications of the proposed legislation and the foment online.

In the face of strong criticism, the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP act have been shelved for the time being.  But the movie, music, television and video game industries continue to argue that they offer much needed protection against pirates outside the reach of American law enforcement. Steve Tepp of the business lobbying group the US Chamber of Commerce tells Bob that despite criticism, these bills are narrowly targeted and would protect copyright holders against pirates. 

Ramblin' Man - New Country Rehab

In 1983, Mitt Romney took his family on a road trip from Boston to Canada, with the family dog Seamus strapped to the roof of the car. Almost 5 years ago, the Seamus story made it into a Boston Globe story, and to this day, the anecdote of Seamus the dog continues to haunt Romney.  Bob speaks to Boston Globe Magazine writer Neil Swidey, the person to first dig up the Seamus story.

The Dodos - Companions

Hackers frequently release insecure information to demonstrate the vulnerability of new technologies. It's a novel approach, but certainly not new. Bob talks to New Scientist's Paul Marks, who tells the story of Nevil Maskelyne, and magician and inventor who, in the interest of exposing the technology's insecurity, hacked Guglielmo Marconi's first demonstration of the wireless telegraph.

Quantic And His Combo Barbaro - Cancao Do Deserto

From 1988 to 1999, the TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000 defined a comedic genre of making fun of bad movies in real time. But after the show went off the air, its creators found a new outlet for their "riffing," one that allowed them to expand their repertoire from old sci-fi B-movies to current Hollywood blockbusters. Their company RiffTrax offers MP3 audio files that users can download and play along with a rented DVD. Bob asks RiffTrax's Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett for some pointers in preparation for OTM's impending revival of Media Scrutiny Theater.

For almost as long as there have been comedies on television there's been that old Pavlovian insurance–the laugh track.  But does it work?  Are producers just scared that without prompting we won't know what's funny?  New York Magazine's Joe Adalian tells Bob that a new generation of sitcoms highlights the pros and cons of canned laughter.

The FCC's proposed regulations to force disclosure of TV political ad buys online is facing resistance from local television stations.  The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) says that requiring stations to post online a file of the the ads purchased would create an unnecessary burden for the stations.  Bob speaks to broadcast attorney and outside counsel for the NAB Jack Goodman, who says the political file is too massive and disorganized to maintain online.

Will Sessions - Halftime

Local television stations are required to maintain a public file of political ad sales, and allow any member of the public to inspect it–as long as they physically come in to the station.  To make the information more accessible, the Federal Communications Commission is proposing regulations that would require local broadcasters to put the public file online.  Bob speaks to former FCC adviser Steven Waldman, who says that putting the information online is the least that broadcasters can do to fulfill their public interest obligations.

After years of holding that the 1961 Federal Wire Act made online gambling that crossed state lines illegal, the Department of Justice reversed itself on December 24th, 2011, giving the states a huge gift. Bob speaks with gambling expert I. Nelson Rose, who says that cash-strapped states are now likely to loosen rules on online gambling, and that will mean big money and new jobs. 

Ramblin' Man - New Country Rehab 

If all commenters are ticking time bombs waiting to go off, then rule one is - don’t light the fuse by responding directly. But as a professional writer and critic, Lee Siegel had had enough. So he used a pseudonym to respond. In an interview from 2008, Siegel explains the hard-won lessons from his trip to the trenches.

Anika - Officer Officer

Creating an interesting comment space can take a lot of time and energy. Bob speaks to The Atlantic senior editor and blogger Ta-Nehisi Coates about his approach to internet comments and his own heavily moderated comment section.

Last month, The New York Times overhauled its online commenting system in an attempt to create a more engaging comment section. Many websites aspire to have an interesting, relevant and user-friendly comment space, but few have successfully figured out how to do it. Bob speaks to The Atlantic's Rebecca Rosen, who says that more than a decade in, online comments continue to be terrible.

Rather than just fixating on what went wrong for the press in 2011, we thought we'd look forward to what will most likely go wrong in 2012. Former newspaper editor and current blogger Alan Mutter tells Bob that for local legacy media companies, 2012 will be the year when the digital giants show up to take a much larger bite out of their market share.

New Country Rehab - Ramblin' Man

Every year at this time, we invite Craig Silverman of Poynter's Regret the Error blog to fill us in on the media's biggest mistakes of the past 12 months.  He tells Bob about an ironic name mix-up and a very blatant case of plagiarism.

I'd say we get an email at least once a week from a listener asking us why Bob pauses when he says "edited...by Brooke" at the end of every episode. Even as a member of the OTM staff, that question will remain one of life's great mysteries, like the sound of one hand clapping, or why people dislike cilantro.

Comic artist Tyler Crook (you can find him on his website and on facebook) has obviously spent a considerable amount of time thinking about Bob's weekly pregnant pause and has drawn a cartoon imagining what happens in the studio during recording. It's pretty great.