The View From Prospect Hill for the week of May 10

   Look in your Somerville phone directory for the Somerville Journal and you won‚Äôt find anything. Look on your streets for a Somerville Journal office or storefront and you won‚Äôt find anything.
   This week the city‚Äôs other paper was handed over to a new, faceless corporate owner. The move continues the once-proud paper‚Äôs recent slide into irrelevance.

   Community news should be administered by citizens with a feel and a sensitivity for the community they report on. They should be sensitive to and aware of community standards and traditions.
   The Journal is owned by a Northbrook, Illinois company. What do people in Northbrook know about the mayor‚Äôs picnic at Powderhouse Park? What do they know about the decades-long struggle over Assembly Square? What do they know about the city‚Äôs proud history or its recent renaissance?
    For an example, check out their inflammatory February story based on a misquote where the mayor and a department head were accused of campaign fundraising crimes. How many people read it and thought, ‚ÄúThe bad old days are back in Somerville?‚Äù The Journal should have treated the city and the individuals involved fairly and done some fact-checking.
   The News is owned and operated by people who know where this city has been and where it could go if it realizes its infinite potential. We shall make an honest and determined effort to supply the citizens of Somerville with a local paper to be devoted to the up building of Somerville, independent of all parties and subservient to no clique.