WGBH Radio; The Callie Crossley Show

I'm Sue O'Connell sitting in for Kelly Crossley. This is the Kelly Crossley Show with Justice Margaret Marshall stepping down the three seats that are in play for the governor's council suddenly seem much more interesting. Parella founded in the early seventeen hundreds. The council is mostly under the radar made up of eight elected members of the Governor's Council reviews the governor's judicial appointments among other things. This hour we'll get a crash course on the council and look at who's likely to secure a seat come November. From there we look at what happens when you remove free. From freedom of expression. We'll check in with the sun Chronicle about their policy change to charge readers to post online comments. Is this the new way to civil discourse or should comments be open and free to all. We top it all off with the Newport Folk Festival. Up next the Gang of Eight the online comment debate and folk music great. First the news. From NPR News in Washington I'm Lakshmi saying Pakistani authorities

reportedly do not suspect terrorism in today's crash of an airliner outside the capital Islamabad. An air bus went down in the rain lashed hills around the capital city. All aboard were killed as NPR's Julie McCarthy reports the crash occurred during bad weather. The bodies one hundred forty six passengers and six crew members are being recovered. The black box has been retrieved and will be sent to the United States for study. The gruesome work of collecting body parts and personal effects is now absorbing authorities as they struggle to identify the victims of air blue flight 2 0 2. Many were burned beyond recognition. A newlywed couple married just five days ago was on their way to honeymoon in the north of the country. The U.S. embassy says two American citizens perished in the accident. The prime minister conducted an aerial tour of the crash and the government has announced a one day mourning period for what is the worst air disaster on Pakistan's soil. Julie McCarthy NPR News Islamabad. President Obama meanwhile is expressing condolences to the families who lost loved ones in

this plane crash. In a statement issued by the White House a short time ago the president says the American people stand with Pakistan in its time of tragedy. In the US orders to factories for big ticket items fell in June a report released by the Commerce Department says demand for durable goods dropped 1 percent last month. As NPR's Carolyn Beeler reports that's a second straight monthly decline in the largest drop in nearly a year. Economists were expecting orders for durable goods like refrigerators cars and airplanes to increase by about one percent last month. But demand actually fell due in large part to a drop in orders for commercial aircraft. Paul Ashworth is an economist with Capital Economics. He says the market for durable goods is volatile. So it's important not to read too much into the drop. I mean it's disappointing and it suggests that the recovery in manufacturing might have lost some momentum. Be careful about interrupting and they've been in one month The suggesting that the recovery is

suddenly out of track. Last month's decline hit most major industries including machinery and electronics. But even with the drop orders were still up more than 16 percent from the same month last year. Carolyn Beeler NPR News Washington. The Associated Press is reporting the Greece is using a rare emergency order to stop a strike by fuel tanker drivers. It says a government issued the order today on the third day of a strike that has affected gas stations across the country. Greece has been facing months of labor unrest over the government's austerity measures. Officials say those measures are necessary to climb out of its debt crisis. On Wall Street stocks are mixed. Dow up one point to ten thousand five thirty seven Nasdaq down 9 a 20 to seventy nine. This is NPR News. The International Monetary Fund's latest review of China's policies finds that the UN currency is undervalued but the IMF is reforming from saying much

more about it. As NPR's Louisa Lim tells us the IMF is trying to avoid a confrontation with Beijing. Economists working for the IMF estimate the Chinese currency is undervalued by between five and twenty seven percent. But this review of Beijing's policies shied away from calling the U.N. substantially undervalued. The admission of that single contentious what signals a recognition of China's efforts to relax its exchange rate control slightly. This is the IMF first such report in three years after the annual practice was suspended due to Beijing's critical reviews. This review praised China's response to the global financial crisis. But many American lawmakers believe China is unfairly holding down its currency to keep its goods cheaper on world markets. Louisa Lim NPR News Beijing. A massive fire still raging near California's Mojave Desert after destroyed more than 30 homes it's threatening dozens more structures. The sheriff of Arizona's most

populous county warns he'll throw anyone in jail if they try to prevent him from enforcing the state's new immigration law. The law which takes effect tomorrow requires officers to check a person status if they're suspected of being in the US illegally. But Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio tells ABC that officers have already been doing that job for three years. Still immigrant advocates are especially concerned about Arpaio who came under federal investigation last fall for allegedly using illegal enforcement tactics. This is NPR. Support for NPR comes from U.S. oncology 13:00 oncologist united to bring cancer care to local communities across America at U.S. oncology dot com. Good afternoon I'm Sue O'Connell sitting in for Kelly Crossley This is the Kelly Crossley Show Well forget all about that governor's race and the congressional seats which are being hotly contested. The real action is at the governor's council with three seats up for

grabs. And Justice Margaret Marshall stepping down. We're kicking off this hour with a crash course on the council. So joining us right now a self-described governor's council is Chris Verona a reporter with The Boston Phoenix Chris for oh welcome or you know or governor's council affectionate 0 0 0 that's how you like to have a primmer what the heck is the governor's council I mean you know I put it so. I at one point politically I called it a ceremonial eight member rubber stamp in favor bank headquarters for political beauty contest. Very nice very nice but really on the surface what it is is that eight elected members. They work part time. They make about twenty six thousand dollars a year. The districts are huge. They're about this they're about I will talk about this later this is why it's really hard to unseat an incumbent. The districts are about the size of five state Senate districts. And what they ultimately do is they rubber stamp judicial appointments. Now that the history of the governor's council is one that sort of in a revolutionary mode of making sure that the king doesn't get to the king's appointee doesn't get to just pick

judges so it's a bit of a sort of blue laws type of Massachusetts thing. Correct and you know originally and I think still in the charter what they're supposed to do is give advice and consent to quote unquote vice and consent to the governor and they did and they did for a long time it was founded by Sam Adams. And all sorts of important people three time speaker Timothy Bigelow sat on the council a lot of people sat on the council and they really they were there for the governor say OK yes no advice and consent and I think it actually served you know when you read in history it actually did serve a purpose. And now it's sort of become this sort of backroom deal people approving backroom deal apart appointees right in some ways. Yeah I mean so just to just to give kind of the this is something that really I bet you know if you pull people out of the State House legislators won't be able to tell you how judicial appointments a lot of them would be able really would be able to tell you how digital appointments come to be and what it is is there's something called the JSE which is the Judicial Nominating Committee and that consists

of 21 appointed members all appointed by the governor. Now this is the this is where this is where judicial nominees are. This is kind of the incubator. So from there three to six nominees go to the governor now and the governor sends one to the governor's council. Now of course you have me on here because Margaret Marshall and that's that's a huge appointment and I'm glad to always talk about the governor's stance but the truth is it doesn't matter nobody for that seat that important. It is going to get to the governor's council unless they're sure it's going to be. Well the truth of it is to I mean you can look at what the motivations for why they put people forward are but there's very rarely someone who is ridiculously unqualified to get to that level is that true. You know I hate all that. It's actually not necessarily. Sometimes they're you know and this is they're about two maybe three sometimes gadflies on the council who will vote against people do some actual legwork

actually just recently. DAVID I think you know I'm going to say he was a he was applying he was trying to be associate justice of Middlesex probate and family court actually withdrew because of some sort of minor controversies that. But this is that's about as rare as it gets. The people I interviewed people who have served eight terms it's like 16 years. I don't remember ever ever denying anybody. But you know when when they got to that point when they actually got to the governor's council and recently over the past couple of years the governor's council members a couple of them have been somewhat. Worthy of some ink in newspapers and websites because of their antics. Yeah well of course you have Maryland veining who is I think kind of pretty famous around water tower I believe she also serves as a select woman if that's what they call it there. And she had a let's just say a run in with a Sally Beauty Supply store clerk. I don't think there was any convictions but nonetheless it was negative press and then you have Kelly Templeton whose governor's council district

covers a dips into Boston and she had falsely advertised during the last election in 2008 that she had an indorsement from Governor Deval Patrick and she forged his signature to what isn't yours like I said it is understanding where you know I think the governor was behind me before she actually forged it and she paid a thousand dollar fine as a public apology it was a minor scandal but you know look I just want to remind everybody this scandal broke if I even called that it's a ridiculous and governor's council gate type of thing. But but that actually came out before the election. And Bob Toobin Bill who is a Milton attorney he's running against her again now that race he spent more than $100000 out of his own pocket and still she buried him he's been he's running again anybody running a lot of media campaigns around you know I think a lot of ads I'd say Bob Jewett allies like one of the highest profile governors Council in campaigns maybe you know for a long time. Well then. Here's the question I mean I don't mean to $26000 a year salary for one hour of work per week that some of them don't show up for but what's the

benefit of being on the council is this just the last stop is their pension is you know it's basically an extra twenty six grand a year when you add that up. You know you've got guys like Chris ion Ella who also like to see is a has a big Massachusetts political pedigree. And that money adds up. Also a lot of them are attorneys. I know as an attorney I don't believe she is if she is I'm I don't think she practices. But this is kind of like it's really weird there's so many conflicts of potential conflicts of interest involved the governor's council for example. They're not allowed to obviously take donations from people who are going to be coming before them. But that doesn't mean they couldn't have in the past. And also they're appointing judges these are attorneys. Now there's a big chance and it happened has happened many times in the past where. They face these these judges in court and it's just that's just how it is. There's no Governor Dukakis former Governor Dukakis tried to dismantle and I think he did one of the great great moves of all time which is taking the office away and sending

them banishing them to another part of the state house. And he did he made some earnest efforts to really bring down the power of the council but that was many years ago is anyone paying any attention to this. No you know I definitely want to talk you know we definitely time I'll talk a little bit about that history and even before that but the what you have to understand especially about the governor's council in a state where you know speaking of Dukakis where you know Willie Horton or anything anything that happens with a judge if Willie Horton of course was a key moment in the Dukakis campaign for president just with that kind of history but any time basically that a judge let's let's say let's murder out and they kill again. If there was no governor's counsel it's almost as if people could really point a finger directly at the governor in this case it's almost like a sheath against that so you know say oh no they approved a layer of bureaucracy. Exactly it's a beautiful layer of bureaucracy for anybody in the in the corner office. So you know going back a little

further though is that what's interesting is that in 159 five of the eight governors councilors were indicted on a total of more than a thousand charges of political corruption and before that the governor's counsel had a lot of teeth. After that it was just kind of like sitting around like it still is to a certain degree you know if you if you go to any swearing in ceremony for example at the State House they they like quite literally carry the flag it's just this ridiculous ceremonial post so they're sort of set up like the elders elders to advise the governor but basically don't have a lot of power. Absolutely awful and you know the other thing they do for example is what's the deal with their budget and fiscal. Exactly they. What is it that they wanted realty there. They authorize state treasury expenditures which And I'm not exaggerating here when I was writing my article about the governor's council I sat in on these what that means is you know there are these are legitimate state treasury expenditures. Basically that they signed the checks and they they it gets passed around and they all sign the little thing and everything 50 percent of the governor's council so you know eight

people and those five votes come easy as far as the expenditures part. That's not even something that they vet. It's ridiculous really just crosses there. It's got their signature on it they never really looked at those or anything. So what's the future hold for the governor's council is this just something that we're talking about today because Margaret Marshall is stepping down or or that you know we've got a high profile candidate who's spending a lot of his own money trying to get elected. You got that there are there are three you know there are three positions open. Thomas Foley is not running. He is the former state police state police commissioner I believe and why would you run. I mean why why well he's running for the Western figure I he's got a big Terry Kyle Field and we're not sure why she's not running she represents I think most south shores of Cape Cod a little bit. Michael Callahan. He this is the interesting one to watch. I think even though of course the two multiverse juveniles are now Michael Callahan is stepping down. Now there's a Democrat named Terrence Kennedy who's running against him. Now the way the governor's council works I bet

that Terrance Kennedy wins on name recognition because these are just such giant districts and we when we look at who's in there and when we look at how difficult it's been to unseat them nobody even stands a chance. There were five seats up last time and you know everybody everybody got crushed. What about the redo. Is there ever any talk of redistricting I mean these really are huge huge districts and for you know a position of this size and this salary and it just seems an impossibility to be able to campaign to be able to be answered. Not that I know of the only talk that there really is is to get rid of it completely like actually you Brooke brought up brought up Dukakis tried to do that when he couldn't do that he moved them off you know away from the corner office and into. On to the first floor where they still are. Brian Joyce of Milton tried to file a bill to abolish it. Barry Feingold of Andover tried to get rid of it so when when when people when it does come up it doesn't come up like how can we make this better. It's like let's just get rid of this because the only sort of redistricting

that would make sense if they did anything to begin with would be to add a governor's council so we really would be adding to the problem it already cost the Bay State four hundred thousand dollars a year that's with administrative support I imagine it's not only a cover for the governors but also for the nominating for anyone you know that I was speaking with some about this the other day the J and C. That's the real story of the judicial nominee. I don't know who they are they're pretty hard to get to I'm sure I could find I'm sure they wouldn't tell me anything that I wanted to know but it's very judicial appointments are very important. So when Bob Jewett is out there on the stump talking to people about this they're right they should be interested in this it is important and who knows maybe if you know the balance might get to the point where it's not going to just be a rubber stamp for for the governor doesn't seem to have a history of that though I mean he doesn't have a sense that it doesn't and so we now are governing ourselves and don't have to worry about Great Britain. It seems pretty much that it's it's just been rubber stamping or filling their own pockets for some reason.

Yeah and you know one thing and to be honestly I'm not sure exactly how the mechanics want to about talk about woodwork but we did mention that they do also have a certain pardoning power. So there are obviously a lot of cases in which I think I think what would happen is a if a governor did decide they want to pardon someone or commuted sentence which just doesn't really happen in Massachusetts. Once again post Horton era. But if if that ever did happen I think that that would have to go before the governor's counsel too which would again be a good layer of protection for for the game that's what we're concerned about is are affecting you know what do we have. Are there any other states that you know of I know that have appointed judges that have a process like this they. From what I from what I know a lot of them do have similar processes with just checks and checks and balances but something this kind of archaic and this is let's let's be honest here. The governor's council here is not serving the purpose which for which it's written into the Constitution it's really almost like these are the you know these are the bad kids what games can we have left for them to play. You know what I kind of

equate it to putting a kid in front of a video game without putting the quarter in. Well I think they're playing but they're really not doing anything. Well Chris it's fascinating and I'm sure we'll be talking about this again next time there's an opening. I see you're ready to take so much we've been talking with Chris Barone. He's a reporter with The Boston Phoenix. And up next we're going to be looking at the challenges for moderating online comments when print media goes digital stay tune to eighty nine point seven. WGBH. With the.

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org. I'm so-call sitting in for Kelly Crossley This is the Kelly Crossley Show the sun Chronicle has decided to encourage a more civilized online conversation by holding people accountable for their comments by doing away with anonymity. Joining me to talk about how this change will affect the way people engage online is Aura star Conti also known as Rusty who's the publisher of The Sun Chronicle and Jesse single an op ed contributor for The Boston Globe. Welcome to you both. Thank you. Rusty we'll start with you what's what's the motivation for looking to to hold these these commenters accountable. Well I want to make it clear from the start that it was never about the 99 cents that we charge it's not a revenue was they were about the money it was only about anonymity. And we only use the credit card charge to activate an account and pay some of the banking connected with starting it I think in general that you know.

We've we've had a website since 1998 I think we've allowed commenting since 2005 on our website. I think of late as everybody knows. I think they've come to become more on ruly more inappropriate more excessive. And I had always. But very much against that I'm a full time newspaper guy so it just didn't seem right. Once it started to become a greater labor for my editorial department and they got on my side and then we decided. So on April 12th we cease comments altogether. And then I asked I said if you can develop a way that we can get rid of anonymity and people will names will be posted. We got to reinstate it. Jesse is this a clash of old media and current media. I think it is in a lot of ways actually. You know the old model for readers chime in about an article where letters to the editor which are rarely if ever you know published without a name and

hometown attached and I think there's a lot of merit to that you know for people who want to be part of the public conversation. And have their names attached to that. But with the advent of blogging I think that that idea has changed a little bit what blogging and anonymous commenting have allowed is a more vibrant conversation where people are a bit freer to speak their minds without having their view you know attached to their real name for the rest of their lives. And so the downside of that as we see all the time in Boston I call where the comma sections are are basically virtual OK corrals is that people hide behind anonymity to flame and to say really nasty negative often racist things and you know I agree 100 percent with Ross here that's a major concern and something we need to deal with. And I have a foot in both camps both in my day job in the newspaper world and in the web world and I know that from the newspaper perspective it's always been. Very difficult to have the amount of staff that's necessary to run both a print publication and its sister publication. So I would imagine the idea of

doing some moderation of the comments that come up was that something you examined was a to work intensive. We had we had been doing that and you know it. We're small newspaper so we don't have the resources like the Globe might have I think they have six full time people doing this. It's very difficult even to allocate a couple hours a day and 24/7 stuff can be up for all through the night with people commenting. It makes it bad. It did stood not seem to be working to provide moderation I don't think we could afford to do that. And Jesse there's been some some populist sort of approaches to it to moderation I know that you've talked about sort of. Commenters voting on which comments should go forward and which shouldn't. Can you talk a little bit more about how a mechanism like that works. Yeah. So one of my favorite websites is Reddit which is a very nerdy link sharing sites where all it is is people submit a link and you can see they're voted up or down by the community and they apply that system to the comments on each link as well. And in rabbits case it works very well

because there simply aren't a lot of jerks on the site. So you'll click on the links comment section and all the most you know highly voted comments come to the top. If someone says something mean or stupid or just inflammatory will get voted down voted to oblivion as people say a system like that I think can work in some circumstances now. It completely depends on sort of the complection of the community. If you have a community full of people who are only there to start fights and a flame that wouldn't work because sort of the jerky comments would just get uploaded. But if you have a good community of users your community has some investment in that community. A system like that I think could work. Now Rusty I know the challenges of the moderating website comments but I also know we print publishers sort of came into this world with concerns about libel law and who is responsible in fact checking all those crazy crazy ideas that the bloggers just threw right out the window right. And I know that in my own experience I've learned a lot from some comments you know some commenters have

led me to to a deeper understanding of the story or different perspectives. I'm wondering though whether any comments in particular that really sealed the deal for you I mean I think we all have a thick skin in this business. But was there anything that just went way over the line for you. I have to say that no it was really the general tone of the comments. Now once we stop comments we paranoia was rampant in the communities they said you stopped it because of this story you're not there because of that story you started because of this comment or this comment there. And I think you know they never direct them to be but you heard these comments everywhere that this is why it was just particular story that we did not want. And they were blaming us for trying to squelch it. And it's coming which is far from the truth. And it was I mean I don't mean to generalize hateful comments but I think we've all seen how bad comments can get. And again it's from the something someone wouldn't even say sometimes that their own family dinner table. Exactly feel

free to go ahead and comment on anonymously on about a story. Right and you know I had some very interesting comments from people I've gotten a lot of pro and con. E-mails on this you know and they were both as exuberant as the other great brilliant idea the other one says. What's wrong with you if you know you're crazy. And people said yeah you know I don't want everything I write to be had my name attached to it this is crazy as a following all my life you know. And I'm thinking I think you're nuts. I think you know maybe someday your future boss is going to find out what a jerk you really are I guess if they look up all your past comments and it's I have a hard time get my hands around it doesn't go away you know a sort of watermark now between people's understanding of what Web sites are and what commenting is. I mean we've got a whole generation now of young adults graduating from college who have grown up with social networking have grown up with websites and I think at some point the ability of what print media can do vs.

new media which is always every day is new and the accountability factor and I mean are we just at a point now where people understand at some point you know they might have to pay for content and at some point they might need to fact check things and not everything they read online is true. Yeah but I think we've already seen media adjust in that direction I mean even the partisan outlets like Huffington Post they've hired real reporters I mean people like you know Ryan Graham is one example he was a longtime D.C. reporter who wrote for reputable publications and you know he now writes for understandably liberal publication but they absolutely hold him to the same standards. Well I mean I remember coming from when Wikipedia first launched not you know seeing one of my young reporters sourcing you know using Wikipedia and I hit the roof. But now I'm I'm a lot less concerned about it as long as it's second sourced. And that's just sort of the evolution the way that we're going. Yeah I think you know if I'm researching a column I've been using the Internet far longer than I'd like to admit. And it's pretty easy to tell once you get in there for a while which are the

reputable sources and which aren't. So there's all sorts of crazy blogs out there all sorts of comment comment commentary and sort of an ongoing kickoff now but it's getting easier I think to sift what's crazy from what's you know worth looking into. Rusty Doug Conti Are you concerned about. A challenge in connecting with a younger readership do you see this as an obstacle that you need to find to go around. Is there a way that the connectivity between this young generation I don't really have any strong research on that as I would I would want to read for younger people are probably more likely to give you the name that somebody who's embedded in the community and just wants to you know raise some hell yeah. I think I disagree that I think you know most people in their 20s or even early 30s have been using the internet long enough and right as blogging has exploded when anonymity is the norm. You know the default is to not give your name so I do think asking people who are used to not giving their name and on any other site can comment anonymously to give their name. You know could make them a little less likely to do so.

I want to move just a little bit off topic and talk a bit about charging for content in general as you stated this is not a revenue stream and you know 99 cents to imagine register once for a period is not necessarily going to going to fill the bank and I'm sure the credit card companies take right that's a lifetime you know ninety nine percent of that to pay for it but you know where do you see the route going for charging for content. You know this is the challenge for print media to be broadcast media basically online has been. An expensive one. And the business side will tell you that the cost per thousand in advertising isn't the same in print as it is online do you. Do you see a route towards charging for content. I definitely see a trend in that area. I think newspapers will be charging maybe not for basic breaking news content but for specialized content membership with coupons and other benefits that you can join as a club further behind a wallet. I think it's inevitable. Jesse do you see you know this generation prepared to pay for content.

You know I like to joke that if the sales department have invented the World Wide Web we'd have a sustainable business model. I know that you know is is is the world ready to start paying for certain things for certain things yes. I think for most things you know the example I was used in this is Talking Points Memo which is you know quickly they were launched I think 0 3 0 2 by Josh Marshall and of course it became one of the most popular political blogs and you know I don't have an intimate understanding their finances but they're doing well enough to hire new staffers all the time they have a really sort of comprehensive coverage model. And the reason for that is they were built from the ground up as an organization that would just do reporting. And they don't really have to do with all that much other infrastructure. So unfortunately you know this breaks my heart because I hate the idea of my dad not being able to read the sports section on Sunday. I love curling up with a newspaper but. Delivering a three pound brick of paper to every subscriber in the age of the internet I don't think is sustainable and we're not going to know how the new business models look

until most things have gone online. Do you concur. Yes I agree. You know I think delivering a lot of people don't want to paper they can get they can they can get it online or they can get a digital copy which I find very useful when I'm out of town. So it's just like reading my paper just like being there. Well you know but you don't have to pay for that. Yeah. What do you think the commenting has added to society as a whole I mean this is a very different world where you know I grew up in a you know multi paper household where my parents would read and occasionally one of my parents would fire off a letter to the editor and occasionally it would get. Get printed but in terms of being able to immediately comment on on something one reads about it's a dramatic change. Yeah it's the same story you've seen throughout the internet where the the barrier to entry has been lowered to almost a floor. Anyone can start a blog. Anyone can comment and that both has an upside and downside the downside you can see by looking at any any Boston icon story dealing with crime dealing with immigration dealing with the race. They've actually

had to stop allowing commenting on stories about someone dying because they were just getting viciously cruel comments. The upside is that all sorts of people have perspectives that might not otherwise get recognized or published or sometimes even have scoops that you know they might not feel comfortable emailing reported directly or picking up the phone they can post in the comments section and you can get. The best bloggers who have the best communities associated with their blogs have ongoing conversation with their readers and learn a lot. Do you think it's changed the perspective and the ability of reporters I mean I know I read once a headline about I forget what the subject was but that it included all-American girl and it was a white blue eyed blonde girl. And I commented that you know that's not all American anymore. And suddenly there was this given taken in the comments and the reporter actually said I've learned from this you know and that's not necessarily you know I don't know that I would have written a letter to the editor about a headline in a paper I don't read regularly. But this allowed me to make a point and others. And I'm just wondering is this helping to educate do you think

the reporters at large. I think in a lot of cases it is and beyond that I go to Rosie's earlier point about someone not wanting their name affiliated with which you know I don't trust you saying if you if you're a jerk you're a jerk and the facts are going to come out sooner or later but the person who posted that comment about you know this is an all American let's say 10 years from now they're interviewing for a job and they're you know the person hiring them or to you know consider hiring them Googles their name which they definitely will do. And they disagree with the sentiment of you know should that person have to suffer just for speaking out about something they want to speak out about. Probably they could explain it. I would think it of you. Yeah I think I was 10 years old and by the time they apply for jobs it's going to be so many Google searches on them that it's going to be like the naked pictures no one worries about that any right. Right OK I don't I don't I don't worry about it. You know and I think that people can. I was going to say about scoops and stuff you know I mean I mean my my email address is in the paper all the time so was my editors an editor and reporter staffer somebody has a hot tip or want

to blow the whistle on something I don't see why they just can't. So direct I don't think it's really a factor on your website I don't care what people say yeah. Anywhere you know I just. All I'm saying is that you know if you want to comment on my stories on my website just tell me who you are. There has been I think a certain level of sophistication that's grown with commenters so that people just don't take the bait anymore. You know if someone posts something ridiculously racist or just over the top you know every now and then someone will engage poster number four right. But generally they seem to be ignored and there does seem to be some self policing going on. There's some but a lot of Globe stories don't you know on 20 comments and 90 of them will just add nothing to the story. So in a case like that. You know why would a good hearted commentary even want to jump in there and say something useful. Right right. So going forward continue with the 99 cents We'll see how it works. Look at her report to see how many you know how many you've got that have signed up. Yes it's been it we were booming we have 25 this morning. Excellent. I know there are some more thanks so much for joining us it's been very

interesting and something we'll keep keep an eye on we've been speaking with arrested de Conti and the publisher of The Sun Chronicle and Alberto and Jesse signal an op ed contributor to The Boston Globe. Thanks for joining us. Up next it is a preview of this year's Newport Folk Festival. Stay with us. Support for WGBH comes from you and from Old Sturbridge Village celebrating redcoats and rebels August 7th and 8th the largest Revolutionary War event in New England with more than 800 re-enactors mock battles military parades and more

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online WGBH antiques and collectibles auction bid on fine jewelry. One of a kind sporting equipment rare pieces of early America a vintage Rolex watch donated by a European watch company and a 950 to N.G. TV roadster with mechanical services donated by custom restorations but bidding ends on August 3rd. Swing on over to auction dodge WGBH dot org. Why eighty nine point seven. Because there are renewed calls for anti cyber bullying legislation has been making its way to the state house because you'll only hear the Emily Rooney show on the news. Eighty nine point seven. WGBH radio. We can only I'm Since I'm so called sitting in for Kelly Crossley This is the Kelly Crossley Show will the Newport Folk Festival kicks off this Friday for a preview of this year's lineup I'm joined by Jay Sweet the editor at large of Paste magazine and co-producer of The George Wein Newport Folk Festival. And in the studio I have chop

chop and Joe Wright correct. Yeah doing good. Yeah right here yeah. They are with the and I have to say this differently every time what cheer. We're going to hit which is a 9000 or 18 piece fluctuates. OK. Brass Band from Providence. Joe plays the the sousaphone. Exactly and chop chop plays the drums. There you go so welcome to all of you thanks for coming in. Thank you. So I hate Jay how you doing. Oh I did but I'm lovely. Thanks for thanks for having me. So you know the whole evolution of the Newport Folk. I mean you just really every year have a whole brand new genre to choose from. Right now I feel I feel that way I mean I think you know it's the blueprint that George Wein the founder of the festival. I've been passed down and you know when I feel that when I was kind of headed over to mayday you know he just said hey just remember what we've done is seemingly work for you know 51 some odd years so don't don't don't play around with it too much. But you know I think that what what what we do every year is we kind of help. I want to

say redefine what the term folk music means but we definitely start adding people and you know kind of broaden it a little bit you know. Great job. I mean Jay it's safe to say that that every year there's been a broadening and it's not you know sort of like the new and radical and crazy festival that actually grows each year in changes the definitions and boundaries. Yeah I think I we always call Newport Folk a family reunion of sorts just because we have people that's been coming for you know three or four decades and you know like any family a family keeps getting bigger and bigger you know and we just keep introducing more and more people and into the into this family and we we really you know I like you know a story that just happened yesterday whereas we had one artist the last second has had to cancel Justin Townes Earle and within 50 minutes of receiving that phone call I'm still wondering oh my gosh what am I going to do. I got another phone call from a performance. Performed a couple years ago and and with Kirk and dearly and he said he was just calling to say hey

me an entire eight person band are going to be around to turn it away you could come and get tickets because I said I could do you want better. How do you guys want to come in and play and fill in for Justin Townes Earle and they were like Are you kidding and I said no. And sure enough they said yes and now they're playing a festival. Well we're going to take a listen to some of the music that folks can listen to when they go to the concert once you guys talk a little bit about what cheer brigade and what how you would describe your style of music loud I imagine would be one of them I would. Guess there is going to be a written test after it was good enough. Well you know what I would say I took the music is with a person you want to have sex with instead of the person you have to have something excellent. That was you know I kind of guessed that just by the time before you came in it was the first thing that jumps to mind for both of you. All right excellent. Else I'm sure you're very popular. All right we're going to take a listen to your music now this is called Melody way not

letting you know Mel again and it's from we blow you suck album. Yes. Thank you. So it's safe to say that you guys probably were in the marching band in high school is that true or no. No no I was I was. What do you mean a lot of us were. I played the sousaphone high school and I think for a lot of it it was just a stupid thing we did in high school or a dorky thing like the sousaphone Oh what am I

going to do with this you think you're going to get to be playing this kind of festival with rock n roll band or something like that. But you got you know I mean you really delve in and also seriously into a variety of music types I mean it's you know just in that alone you can hear some great to you want to influence and get some Bollywood influence though it's truly definitely not your standard marching band. No. Yeah. Balkan Bollywood Samba hip hop so is it a collaboration of all the members or is it you know you just kind of get together and decide you know who's got this flavor and where we're going to go with it. Yeah it's a collaboration of all members I mean there are certain people who are better at writing the songs and certain people are better at organizing the shows and that kind of thing but we definitely have multiple songwriters who bring different things some people are more into metal and bring the metal side of things some people more into the Eastern European or like the klezmer music and are writing those. So it's a really cool thing to have this big of a bands where you can have so many people bringing so

many different styles we bring into it. We talk with the guys from what cheer brigade which are playing at the Newport Folk Festival. AJ I notice that you have on the on the list also a favorite of mine. Our new favorite of mine I have a lot of time to get into our music but it's Nico right. Yeah yeah yeah. She's she's Nigerian. Born and then moved to Germany and you know Much like with when I when when my coconspirator Bob Jones the other co-producer and I we look you know when we when we start programming the festival back in October. You know I always I always compare it to you use your words like wow I want to I want to find out what that word means and then once you find out what it means you start to see it everywhere. That's what it was like when when we first heard Mecca we we thought immediately like wow we were captured immediately and then we said let's dive in and find out more about her and as we learned more and more we just became completely of what she's about.

I had the same experience we were preparing for the show and I went Oh it's you know it's not god like of course I know that she's everywhere right now. We're going to I think I think what's interesting about her what I what I think is interesting to her is and it goes to I guess what you know what show and was just saying is that the thing with Newport is that you know it's not called the Newport American Folk Festival. It's the Newport Folk Festival you have to look to basically all areas and all territories and you know Nigeria's got some amazing folk music and you know so believe in not just Germany and sodas Pilon and so so I always start to say it. TIME says well this doesn't sound like what I think folk music should sound like I always get to figure you know the co-founder of the festival and folk music is music by the people for the people. Now it's pretty much a broad definition but that's the way you like it. Well we're going to take a little taste of Necker right now. The track is heart beat and it's from her concrete jungle album. This is.

Such a that's a that's an example of an ability I think I'm going to I'm going to predict here that she's going to be a huge huge hit if she isn't already and that's that's an example of how you're really able to touch on the up and coming bands and include them into this great tradition. Yeah I've had I mean that's that's basically the whole thing it's it's it's not like picking stocks you know you thank goodness or you just say yeah but other music industry would we just be clothes would be no more music. Exactly and you know the thing about that is I always say it's like you know if you listen to her lyrics she's like Billy Bragg if you listen to the way if you watch her perform she's like in a Mahalia Jackson but if you actually see it you might you're not reminded of a female Bob Marley you know or a Lauryn Hill and and all those people to me are some of the best folk musicians of all time and so she is kind of you know you boil it all down and

that's really where her essence is that and I think you know we have if I think once you hear it you just know it doesn't matter if you sold a thousand hours or you know nobody knows your name if you just get the big IP The big it and then we try to get her on you know or anybody and that's the way we that's the way we like to do it we don't have a you know every year it's not like well. We got to get that one person I would like to see guitar we have to get that email. You know our appellate group you know we know it doesn't work like that. Now I know the answer for you guys is yes but this is a big deal playing the Newport Shore folks who I mean is it does it is it something that's always been meaningful to you as a tradition or as an icon or is it something that you're just coming to New. Like you know how did this exist all these years and it was off my radar. I think it was kind of a for it I don't think we ever thought about playing it because it existed in my mind at least as this big epic thing where these big folk artists play you know we all know kind of the the history of it a little bit and you know we didn't think like what Cher really fit into that but like Jay was saying especially in recent years it's been

expanding so much which is such a cool thing that it can stay relevant and it isn't just you know Dylan playing all that stuff that's where you are Dylan we're waiting for someone to say what. There could be a prize if someone said Joan Baez or Bob Dylan so right. Well that's what I think is it's just these old people playing it every year. But there's always this huge way and IMO OK people might. But recent years has become this cool thing where these new people are is your just playing was awesome I never heard of her that was we should be playing behind her on that track. Yeah that was a great track. All right Jay we're going to play a little bit of April Smith and the great picture show what can you tell us about this band. Well another funny little story about that is we just we get a battle of the band contest or one of our partners and I listen to you know most of the entrants and I heard her and I kind of looked into her and I just said to the boy long story I just said she's too good to

be in this festival and we didn't have any more slots left. But we actually chipped away at everybody else's time on the festival and created enough time to actually make a slot specifically for her because we discovered through this festival but then once again we did our research and we were just so blown away. We said well it's kind of unfair to almost everybody else in this contest because she's that much better and we found her and she's I think when you hear her you know it'll also show you the opposite end of the spectrum from say playing Mecca to see what she's all about and her voice is through the roof. This is a little bit of colors from her songs for a sinking ship. If the cost was. Taken by. Telegram. Telling me how to

play you will never come close. We'll tell you it is safe to assume that it will smith and the great picture show will be appearing at the Newport Newport Folk Festival. So J What's the process. What do you go through in order I mean I imagine that you're already already working on next year's festival but some of it I just I'm sure happens in other times it's just a panic mode. Planning for the latest disaster. Well you captured that pretty darn well. No I would say that you know I have an advantage a little bit because of what I do on my of any other job with pace magazine is you know I have about 25 CDs a week just somehow arrive at my

door and I go through them and you know and then you start to call in your friends just like anybody else say you know we do this kind of well I'll get albums that aren't coming out for five months I'll get them you know five more before they actually come out. And so that's what I mean it's a little bit of a well I really believe in them but it's you know so if I say I really believe in them and I call my friends from say you know bought a ruler the Telluride Bluegrass Festival or Coachella or Lollapalooza or or a small club in Boston or anybody that I know who has access to this music earlier than most people you know even even the crowd sourcing you know the Internet seems to be loving this person and I love this person and you know you kind of do your own market research and then eventually it really comes down to can you picture them sitting there playing to our audience. Well you've got to Berklee College Grad Liz longly who is playing We're going to play just a little bit we got a little time for one more track. This is when I see your face from Liz longly. Slip.

Everything. To. The back seat. So that's just a little bit of some of the variety in the great music that will be at the Newport Folk Festival J It's a broad range it really is you know we don't we don't like to you know we like to keep a pretty pretty broad spectrum. It's kind of in our nature we don't let it get pigeonholed very much do you ever get d ever get any any grief though from folks who think of folk as this non-living living being that just should be what it always was. Absolutely in fact I get a veritable than folk hate mail and I think that. But but what's funny about it is these are the same people that are that are really proud to say that they were that they were there when when Dylan went to electric that and the other board of the day phrase of the

day. Dylan went electric. We're going to say that weren't you. You know it's always OK to mention the word Newport but it's because these are the same people that sit there and they wear it like a badge of honor that they were there when Dylan want to electric you know which basically changed folk music and everything there but these are the same ones who were complaining that these new artists don't sound like the artist that they were you know back in their time and I think that's just human nature you know. Well I mean I think you think your audience has got good ears so I have had great years. It's fascinating to me too because even on a lot of these tours of you know the big arena tours with all the big bands on it it's always like the folk artist like the Indigo Girls who go backstage and say hey how come we're not jamming you know in all these big stars are like Oh you do that you know sort of and that's it but it's the Newport Folk Festival feeling that. That is is indescribable in the tradition. Well the best thing I think we have to offer and I really I feel like the single best thing that Newport Folk is is great about is what we may say here is the schedule. What happened is what artists are

playing. You'll be a watching and so many artist are joining at the artist you actually don't even know who that quote unquote that this is because it is just this huge sing along nanny jam session I don't care what you want to call it the degrees of separation between artists are so few that it's astounding no one knows until you get there. That's great. That's great where you guys are going to be out in the audience the the what cheer brigade will be playing at the Newport Folk Festival along with all the great artists. I've been talking with Jay Sweet the editor at large of pace magazine and co-producer of The George Wein Newport Folk Festival. And Joe and chalked up members of what cheer Brigade the festival kicks off this Friday and runs through August 1st. Learn all about it at Newport Folk Fest dot net. I'm Sue O'Connell I'm going in for Kelly Crossley This is the Kelly Crossley Show where a production of WGBH radio. It was.