Letter: Why the unequal treatment in caption?

While reading Wednesday’s Monitor, I saw the picture on page A3 showing representatives Cassandra Levesque and Al Baldasaro “after a hearing on a child marriage bill.” Levesque, a newly elected representative, is championing the bill to further raise the state’s marriage age. Both her and her bill were the focus of the accompanying article.

What caught my eye, however, was the caption to the picture. In it, Levesque is identified only by name, while Baldasaro is identified as “Rep. Al Baldasaro, a Londonderry Republican.” Why the more formal and complete treatment of Baldasaro – with the honorific title, hometown and party affiliation. Should the two representatives not get equal billing in the caption – either more or less formal? In the accompanying article they do: Each is introduced with the honorific. How does the Monitor determine when to go formal and when to just use the name?

ALEX STREETER

Concord