The View from Prospect Hill for July 20, 2005

     Every newspaper has competition somewhere in the marketplace. We at the Somerville News are no exception. We see our rivals at various city events and smile and nod. And we have to admit there are times when they get a good scoop or write a nice sentence. It would be juvenile not to do so.
    We refrain from exposing the shortcomings in their work because we are professionals. We refrain from pointing out the notes of condescension that run through their stories because we are adults.
    But three weeks ago they went too far.
    The Somerville Journal printed a headline in its Somerville Schools section that read “3rd Graders Can’t Read.”
     An education section of a newspaper can be a wonderful thing. It can inform and reform the communities children live in. It can accomplish all the noble ideals journalism rarely lives up to.
     But when it’s misused in the way it was three weeks ago the section and the entire newspaper should never make another appearance inside that city again.
     The journalist or editor who conceived of that sickening title should contemplate the consequences of their irresponsible and cowardly work.
     They should think about how that headline affects young people of all ages. How did 7th graders feel about themselves when they read vicious words about the hometown that shaped who they are?
     That headline only adds to the growing perception that the world class life this city offers is closed to the children who are growing up here. The Somerville of art festivals and green grass is not a reality to many of the children the Journal degraded because they have been told they are not worthy of it every Thursday when the local paper hits the newsstands.