Garfield: ‘Because Zimbabwe Was Booked Solid’

So, why was On the Media in Turkey? Because show co-host Bob Garfield had another reason to go. Here’s his answer:

“Because Zimbabwe was booked solid.

“Har har. Actually, in my capacity as an ad critic for Advertising Age, I go around the world giving speeches — lately about the collapse of the old media/marketing model before the Brave New World is built out. (I call it “The Chaos Scenario.”) Over 20 years, I’ve done 80% of my on-location NPR reporting (100s of pieces from, like, 25 countries) while on Ad Age business. This trip I was in Oslo, then Istanbul. Freedom of speech in Norway isn’t a big issue, so I decided to focus on Article 301.”

Article 301, of course, being … oh, yes, the part of the Turkish penal code which criminalizes “insulting Turkishness” and is often used to prosecute writers and journalists.

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