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"Contact us" plea from boss of riot-hit paper

The managing director of the Oldham Evening Chronicle has rejected accusations that the paper’s coverage of race issues has been biased.

He spoke out after the newspaper office was targeted during violence in the town this weekend.

Rioters threw a petrol bombs into the premises and smashed three plate glass windows.

Some media reported that the attack may have been a protest about the Chronicle’s reporting – with claims that attacks on white people by Asians had been given precedence over race attacks on Asians.

But MD Philip Hirst said: “Throwing a petrol bomb through the Chronicle’s window is a rather extreme way of trying to open a discussion on our coverage.

“I regard the suggestion that we don’t report all events fairly ascompletely unjustified.

“However, I am quite happy to talk to anyone about how we report what is going on in Oldham.

“I am not aware that anyone has called at the Chronicle, written to us or rung us to complain about how we have covered recent events.

“But if anyone has specific examples of how our reporting has been unfairthen, of course, we are willing to listen and talk about it as we would toanyone who has a complaint.”

He said the paper strived to report events in the town in an unbiased and fair way.

Mr Hirst added: “Anybody who started life working on a local paper knows weget attacked on all sides, but it’s a hell of a way to make a complaint,chucking a firebomb through a window.”

The rioting began on Saturday night and is believed to have been sparked by a fight between an Asian and a white teenager.

The Chronicle was fire-bombed on Sunday but damage to the premises was limited to the promotions department and shop on the ground floor of the three-storey building.

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