Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2023 December 18

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December 18

Trouble finding a source

I'm having trouble finding a source for Timber Wars. This quote appears in the description of the show on various podcasting platforms: "Listeners are left with both an appreciation of the magnificence of old growth forests and the toll paid by logging communities when those forests were protected. Environmentalists and loggers don't agree on much, but I think they will concur that 'Timber Wars' is fair and brilliant journalism." However, I'm unable to locate where it was originally published. I'm wondering if it was published in the NYT and perhaps the content is behind a paywall or something. I can't seem to find it in a Google search. Any help would be appreciated. TipsyElephant (talk) 03:28, 18 December 2023 (UTC)

From the blurb at Apple Podcasts:^[1]

"Listeners are left with both an appreciation of the magnificence of old growth forests and the toll paid by logging communities when those forests were protected. Environmentalists and loggers don't agree on much, but I think they will concur that 'Timber Wars' is fair and brilliant journalism."—"New York Times" columnist and Oregon-native Nicholas Kristof

We know who said it, but not where he said it. Book blurbs are often supplied by request of the publisher and their first public appearance is on the book jacket and in promotional material produced by the publisher. Conceivably, this quote was also supplied by request just for this podcast and not published in another context. Are you Random Dude?^[2]  --Lambiam 11:23, 18 December 2023 (UTC)

@Lambiam: If it was not published in any other context and was supplied by request would that mean that the author was not independent of the subject? Yeah, I am "random dude", and I never received an email from him. I thought I might try contacting OPB as well, but I don't think I ever got around to it. TipsyElephant (talk) 12:11, 18 December 2023 (UTC)

If the author supplied the requested text without a prospect of remuneration, so it was not a work for hire or a quid pro quo, and no producers or other major actors involved are their relatives or close friends so that the author has no vested interest in how the subject is presented, they are IMO independent of the subject.  --Lambiam 13:38, 18 December 2023 (UTC)

Probably not applicable to this instance, but more generally, named writers of blurbs for books are almost invariably given a free advance copy of the book in question (else how could they read and comment on it?), and while not necessarily financially renumerated (though a writer's time is valuable), often have a reasonable expectation that in due course the writer of the blurbed book will in turn supply an appreciative blurb for one of their own forthcoming works, which is a form of quid pro quo. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.199.215.44 (talk) 22:23, 18 December 2023 (UTC)