Offline with Jon Favreau

Rebecca Jennings, senior correspondent at Vox, talks with Jon about the year’s most chronically online conversations––those seemingly innocuous threads and videos that, for some reason, got people up in arms. Jennings’ recent article “Every ‘chronically online’ conversation is the same,” describes the predictability of people being vilified on social media, and she joins Offline to discuss how much of our thirst for drama is really a thirst for punishment. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

Ian Bogost, author and professor at Washington University in St. Louis, talks with Jon about the demise of online social networks. In a recent Atlantic article, “The Age of Social Media Is Ending,” Bogost examines the platforms’ dipping trajectory and argues that people just aren’t meant to talk to each other this much. He joins Offline to elaborate on how Twitter, Instagram and TikTok have sacrificed connection for content, friendship for sponsorship––and why a cultural shift in how we interact with these platforms may be closer than we think. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

This week, a Crooked Media crossover event as Brian Beutler, host of Positively Dreadful, sits down with Jon to talk all the things Democrats could learn from Republicans. Yep, you read that right. Brian makes the case that when it comes to messaging, Democrats should be less shy and spend more energy drawing attention to Republican scandals and controversies — just like the GOP did for Hillary’s emails, the migrant caravan, or crime. He talks to Jon about the obstacles in front of the Democratic party, what will matter to swing voters in 2024, and how the Republican Party is already on the hunt for the next Benghazi. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

Beth Goldberg joins Offline to discuss her work at Jigsaw, the misinformation-tackling team at Google that’s been called “the Internet’s justice league.” Goldberg walks Jon through the dos and don’ts of drawing your Q Anon cousins, election-denying uncles, and vaccine-skeptic grandmas out of their conspiracy rabbit holes this Thanksgiving. By pre-bunking, seeding doubt, and listening with compassion, together we can hash it all out. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

Dr. Lynn Vavreck, professor of political scientist at UCLA and contributing columnist to The Upshot at The New York Times, sits down with Jon to talk about 2022 midterms. After 2020, Lynn and her colleagues interviewed over 500,000 voters, leading them to conclude that our politics aren’t just polarized, but calcified. She argues that calcification has placed our politics on a knife’s edge, raising the stakes of every election and that 2022 was the biggest case of calcification we’ve seen yet. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

Nilay Patel, Editor-in-Chief of The Verge and host of the Decoder podcast, talks with Jon about Elon Musk’s newest and thorniest business venture: purchasing Twitter. In a recent article, “Welcome to Hell, Elon,” Patel describes the quandary that awaits the Tesla founder and argues that Musk has made a historic mistake. He joins Offline to talk Musks’ misguided free speech promises, the limits of technical solutions to political problems, and the hubris of an internet troll-turned-King Twit. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

Nobel Prize-winning journalist Maria Ressa faces 100 years in prison stemming from what she says are illegitimate charges, but that hasn’t stopped her mission of exposing political malfeasance and lies in her home country of the Philippines. She joined David to talk about immigrating to the US as a child and later returning to the Philippines where she built a career, technology’s corrosive impact on journalism and democracy, founding Rappler and finding herself a government target, and maintaining hope as she fights corruption and disinformation through her journalism.

What will it take to save democracy in 2022 and beyond? The MAGA movement is one of the greatest threats to American democracy. But one of the greatest divides in American politics is between the minority of voters who follow politics closely and the vast majority who don’t. In order to win the midterms, Democrats will have to reach that majority.New episodes of The Wilderness drop every Monday. Subscribe to The Wilderness wherever you get your podcasts.Apple: apple.co/thewildernessSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6JfsJlD5sBhVpEQEALNw4UStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-wilderness If you want to learn more about how you can take action in the fight for our democracy, head over to https://votesaveamerica.com/midterm-madness/

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

The Supreme Court has overturned Roe v Wade, access to abortion has collapsed across the country, and Democrats in Washington don’t have the votes to undo the decision right now. It’s a mess! But we may be able get Roe back sooner than it seems—if Democrats and their allies in the reproductive rights movement learn from years of their own missteps, and quickly. That will determine whether restoring the right to abortion takes six months or 60 years. This episode of Positively Dreadful originally aired July 1. New episodes of Positively Dreadful drop every Friday. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

Renee DiResta is an expert on tech policy, influence operations, and algorithms, managing research at the Stanford Internet Observatory. She joins Jon to break down Elon Musk buying Twitter, explaining his envisioned reforms and making the case that Elon Musk fundamentally misunderstands free speech on the internet.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, go to crooked.com and Offline. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

Russian propaganda expert Peter Pomerantsev is a journalist and former Russian television producer who talks to Jon about the distortion of truth and reality inside Putin’s Russia. Jon asks Peter about his recent interview with Ukrainian President Zelensky, how Putin’s propaganda apparatus is reaching a crossroads, and how the Trump/Murdoch propaganda machine mirrors a lot of what he’s seen in Russia.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

Lauren Williams, former Editor-in-Chief of Vox , sits down with Jon to talk about launching Capital B News, a new local-national nonprofit news organization that centers Black voices. Together, they discuss how the murder of George Floyd inspired a “great reckoning” in newsrooms; how this new organization is aiming to rebuild trust in the black community by providing high-quality, local reporting; and the ways the media has failed people of color in its coverage of Critical Race Theory.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

Jon is joined by Ev Williams, Co-Founder and former CEO of Twitter. The two discuss Twitter’s early years, including the design decisions behind some of the app’s most important features. They dive into the promise of Twitter and attempt to make sense of what’s changed. Ev also talks about Twitter’s newest board member and largest shareholder, Elon Musk, and if Donald Trump should be allowed back on.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

Today, Jon is joined by Samantha Bee. Previously The Daily Show’s longest-ever correspondent and now host of the Emmy-award winning Full Frontal on TBS, Sam Bee has been talking politics — and cracking jokes — since the early years of the Bush administration. She joins Jon to talk about how she’s burned out from our worsening political discourse and offer some motherly advice for future Oscars attendees.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

This week, Jon is joined by YouTube sensation and former late night host Lilly Singh. Discussing her new book “Be a Triangle,” Jon asks Lilly how she recently got her life “into shape,” what being the first on late night meant to her, why she decided to delete social media off of her phone, and how she learned to be alone with her thoughts.“Be a Triangle” goes on sale April 5th. Find it wherever your buy books.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

This week, Jon is joined by the technology reporter Taylor Lorenz. Covering what she calls “communication and connection,” Taylor has written extensively about the content creator economy, changing media ecosystems, TikTok, and more. The two talk about some of Taylor’s recent stories, break down why she left the New York Times for the Washington Post, and discuss what journalism in our internet-first age requires of writers and media publications.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

Recorded live from the podcast stage at South by Southwest, Jon is joined by acclaimed television writer Greg Daniels, creator of 'The Office' and 'Parks and Rec.' The two talk about Greg's latest show 'Upload,' which just premiered its second season on Amazon Video. Jon asks Greg what inspired him to write a show about the digital afterlife, how likely that future may actually be, and what he thinks of 'The Office's' lasting impact. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

To open Offline’s new feed, Jon interviews Kara Swisher, Silicon Valley’s most feared and respected journalist. The two discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine — how it marks the first true conflict of the internet age, why Putin is losing the misinformation battle, and what makes Zelensky a compelling online hero. Kara also gives Jon insight into Big Tech’s most important founders and teaches him a few interview tricks to use as Offline continues.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

This week on Offline, Jon is joined by the New York Times’s Ezra Klein. Dissecting polarization and virality, the two attempt to figure out if a healthy democracy is possible in today’s media environment and what it’ll take for the Democratic Party to step up to the task.

This week, Jon is joined by the internet’s dad, Hank Green. For many people, Hank is a staple of the internet, whether on TikTok, YouTube, or in the classroom. He sat down with Jon to discuss how he attempts to inspire curiosity online, the communities he’s built, and how the internet has changed since he posted his first video in 2007.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

This week on Offline, Jon is joined by writer, professor, and social commentator Roxane Gay for a wide-ranging conversation on consequence culture, writing in the age of the internet, and, of course, Joe Rogan. She explains to Jon why she’s been spending less time on Twitter and lays out exactly why she believes people are so awful online.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

This week on Offline, Jon is joined by TikToker and disinformation researcher Abbie Richards. A leading voice on the platform, Abbie inoculates her viewers to trending disinformation and provides them with the tools to fight back. Jon asks her about what that work entails, why this current moment has seen the rise of so many new conspiracies, and dives into her viral conspiracy theory classification chart.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

This week, Jenny Odell teaches Jon how to unplug and, almost literally, smell the roses. Pulling from lessons outlined in her book “How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy,” Jenny makes the case that our attention is precious and what we choose to focus it on doesn’t always need to be productive.

This week, the writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie joins Jon to talk through the viral essay on social media that she wrote last June. The two discuss what compelled her to write that essay, how the internet has changed the way we interact with ideas, and the changes she’s seen in recent literature.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

This week on Offline, Jon is joined by Alex Stamos, Facebook’s former Chief Security Officer. As Jon’s first guest who has worked at a social media company, Alex gives us a first-hand look at Facebook’s internal politics, delivering insight on Russian hackers and the Haugen papers He also makes the case that it’s time for Mark Zuckerberg to step down.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

Jon and Emily Favreau sit down for a special mailbag episode. They answer any questions (yes, any and all) submitted by listeners like you.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

The Atlantic’s Elizabeth Bruenig joins Jon this week on Offline to discuss something the internet was never built for: forgiveness. Exploring faith, political polarization, and cancel culture, Jon and Liz investigate how finding the capacity to forgive the online transgressions of our enemies, strangers, or just our trolls has never been more important.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy joins Jon on Offline to dissect the intersection between the internet and our emotional well-being. Dr. Murthy delivers a doctor’s diagnosis on Jon’s ceaseless doomscrolling, breaks down the impacts the pandemic and our increasing time online have had on our mental health, and makes the case for what it means to live a truly meaningful, connected life.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.