Do Reading Sarah Palin Tweets And Glenn Beck's Blackboard Count As "Literacy?"

In the midst of all the news about right-wing terrorist Jared Loughner and his deadly shooting spree in Tucson, it came to light that one of the shooter's self-absorbed anti-government videos-- most of which sounds like it came directly off Glenn Beck's blackboard-- railed against illiteracy in the 8th congressional district, which Gabby Giffords represents and where he lives. I bet he wouldn't be doing a jig, like the one his right-wing hero and fellow anti-Semite, Hitler, did when he learned his army had entered Paris, if he knew that the most literate city in America is Washington, DC.

Unfortunately-- I think-- people in DC and elsewhere are reading less these days despite relatively higher de facto literacy.

"What difference does it make how good your reading test score is if you never read anything?" says researcher Jack Miller, president of Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, Conn. "One of the elements of the climate, the culture, the value of a city is whether or not there are people there that practice those kinds of behaviors."

The study, based on 2010, looks at measures for six items-- newspapers, bookstores, magazines, education, libraries and the Internet-- to determine what resources are available in each city and the extent to which its inhabitants take advantage of them.

Now in its eighth year, the study finds little to celebrate. Were Washington's top score in 2010 applied to the 2004 rankings, for example, the city would land at No. 7.

The study identifies "worrisome trends" consistent with other national research, including declines in newspaper circulation and book-buying, along with sluggish growth in educational attainment. Increases in Internet usage and stable library patronage aren't offsetting those declines, it says.

Among details in the study at www.ccsu.edu/amlc2010:

•Washington's climb to No. 1. this year was likely helped by troubles in Seattle, which has claimed or shared (with Minneapolis) the top spot four of the last five years. In recent years, Seattle has lost a newspaper and some legendary local bookstores have struggled.

•New Orleans, which ranked 42nd in 2005, then dropped off the list because its population dipped after Hurricane Katrina, has more than bounced back. It returned last year at 17 and this year climbed to 15. Changing demographics likely explain the spike. "A lot of the people that left and haven't come back were poorer," Miller says.

•Ten of California's 12 largest cities landed in the bottom half, including Sacramento, the state capital, at 45, and lowest-ranked Stockton, which has been at or near the bottom since the list debuted in 2004. San Francisco was ranked 6; Oakland squeaked into the top half at 37.

One bright spot: The use of public libraries has remained consistently strong over the years, particularly in manufacturing towns. Toledo, Ohio, and Fort Wayne, Ind., for example, were in the bottom half overall but were two of six Rust-Belt cities to land in top 10 for library resources. Robert Lang, an urban planning and policy expert at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, acknowledges cause for concern but questions whether results necessarily mean people are reading less. "People are reading more things and less in depth. They're getting briefed," he says. "The bigger finding (is) what's consumed is different."