During the Arab Spring, NPR's Andy Carvin used social media to report on uprisings happening a world away. Although Carvin's based in DC, his twitter stream became a reliable one-stop shop for news about events on the ground from Tunisia to Egypt, Libya to Bahrain. 

Tonight, Carvin sits down with Brooke to talk about how he does what he does and what it might mean for the future of journalism. 

You can follow along on the livestream below, and tweet Andy questions using the hashtag #OTMlive. We'll be live-tweeting the event as well. 

Also, be sure to check out Andy's new book, Distant Witness: Social Media, the Arab Spring and a Journalism Revolution.

In December, Al Jazeera Berlin correspondent Aktham Suliman left the news outlet, saying he felt its primary funder, the Qatari government, exerted too much influence over Al Jazeera's coverage. Suliman is just the latest in a string of resignations from Al Jazeera in protest of editorial interference. In an interview from August of last year, Bob talks to blogger and political commentator Sultan Al Qassemi about what he sees as the problems with Al Jazeera's coverage of ongoing fighting in Syria.

Yo La Tengo - I'll Be Around

In Foreign Policy, political commentator Sultan Al Qassemi made the case that Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya are, for political reasons, misrepresenting the reality on the ground in Syria. Bob speaks with Qassemi, who outlines what he sees as the problems with the coverage of the region's most important news sources.

With limited foreign media on the ground in Syria, our picture of the conflict is being assembled largely through citizen videos posted online and Syrian government television. Added to the mix is a new type of video made by rebels, aimed at getting funding from donors abroad. Brooke speaks to NPR Middle East correspondent Deb Amos about making videos in order to get weapons.

The Weeknd - Thursday

When the conflict in Syria began it was relatively simple - a tyrant versus his people. After more than a year, it's become much more complicated. Bob speaks with BBC Middle East Bureau Chief Paul Danahar who recently returned from Syria about the propaganda both sides of the conflict are putting out and the usefulness of having more journalists on the ground in Syria.

The New York Times reported this week that the Assad family employs Western PR firms to polish its image for the rest of the world. A few years ago, Harper’s contributing editor Ken Silverstein went undercover and approached PR firms as a fake representative of a tyrant who needed to improve his image. He talks to Bob about what he learned.

In a Washington Post op-ed last month, Senator Joseph Lieberman spoke of “horrific human rights abuses perpetrated daily, including the widespread and deliberate use of rape and other sexual violence as weapons of war.” Lauren Wolfe, director of the Women Under Siege Project, which has curated a map plotting instances of sexual violence in Syria, talks with Brooke about trying to check the senator's claim and the difficulty of verifying claims of rape in a war-zone.

The Chieftains - The Stone

Much of the hardware and software used by oppressive regimes to monitor foreign dissidents is manufactured in the west. Margaret Coker, Middle East Correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, talks to Bob about President Obama's recent Executive Order banning the sale of this technology to Iran and Syria.

Journalists have become increasingly reliant on digital technology in their work, but weak or nonexistent digital security measures open their sources to risk of exposure. Brooke speaks to journalist Matthieu Aikins about the need for reporters to take more precautions to protect their digital information, especially in conflict areas.

The situation in Syria is worsening, with estimates of over 5000 dead and the regime of President Bashar Al Assad showing no signs of backing down. With a virtual media blackout in the country, videos posted to YouTube and Facebook are providing some of the only glimpses into the atrocities taking place on the ground.  Bob speaks to NPR senior strategist Andy Carvin and Sky News digital news editor Neal Mann about walking the line between conveying the immensity of the brutality without traumatizing audiences.

The Chieftans - The Stone

The regime of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad is becoming increasingly isolated.  Eight months into the Syrian uprising, with estimates of more than 3,500 people killed, the Arab League voted to suspend Syria's membership in the organization.  Bob speaks with Foreign Policy blogger Marc Lynch, who says the idea that Assad would lose legitimacy among fellow Arab leaders for killing his own people may seem obvious, but it is actually a revolutionary shift in the regional mentality.