Sir: Let me begin by admitting that I am not a fastidious newspaper reader – I’m more inclined to casually skim through.
I write today regarding the front top half of The Chatham Voice dated March 22. Staring out at us from a photo was a young, smiling red-haired girl and beside that, the headline “Sex Trafficking Takes Place in Chatham-Kent.” It gives a start. The article was a heart-breaking account of young girls being lured and enslaved in the sex trade, and the picture beside it is of a young girl.
While I don’t know the girl, I think for a moment, I may have actually thought she was featured in that article.
It is obvious when you unfold and actually read the paper that the picture does not belong with the article. I think it’s also just as obvious, or should be to you, that we absorb the headline while looking at the photo next to it.
I can only assume that the placement was not purposely misleading, but that leaves that it was a careless oversight. If I were this child’s parent, I would have been appalled.
Casual glancing at headlines and not reading articles is a bad and lazy habit, I’ll admit. It can leave you ill informed and misled, but I don’t do it for a living.
I will say I have noticed this incongruous lining up of photo and articles many times and sometimes it’s comical. However, I think this one was simply thoughtless.
Janice Duffy
Chatham
