Media Quotes of the Week: From editors condemn readers racist comments on Black Lives Matter coverage to petition calls for Guardian to be closed

Plymouth Live editor Edd Moore in a statement to readers: "Over the last few weeks we have run dozens of articles on the Black Lives Matter movement. While the vast majority of our readers, like all decent human beings, find racism abhorrent, we have been utterly appalled by some of the comments made by a vocal minority using our platforms to spread their hate. We have deleted hundreds of comments in the last few days and banned dozens of people from our websites and Facebook pages. But it is not enough. We recognise that we must do more. Black lives matter. That is not an opinion. It is a fact. As an independent publisher, we represent people of diverse backgrounds and diverse opinions. We are proud to be advocates of free speech and we want our readers to continue to comment on our articles. But hate speech is not free speech." 

Helen Dalby, editor-in-chief of Reach North East, on medium.com: "Our work has been blighted by a backdrop of online and social media abuse against our journalists. It has always been a problem. But it is getting much worse. Sometimes this has crept into phone or email — I’ve had calls and messages over this period where I’ve been sworn at, threatened, told by one man that he hopes I ‘get coronavirus and die’ ...The increase in hate speech has come as we have been reporting on the Black Lives Matter movement in our region. That coverage has prompted some of the most shocking and offensive comments we have seen on our website."

Hull Live digital editor Jenna Thompson on Twitter: "Unfortunately I have just had to delete every post from our Facebook page about today's #BlackLivesMatter protest in Hull. Despite actively monitoring comments all day, we can't do it all night and they have been so bad I can't leave it. It's really disappointing."

BBC News home affairs correspondent Dominic Casciani on Twitter: "Bottles, cans and smoke bombs thrown in the last half hour at police and their horses in Parliament Square by football firms/far-right protesters. Anyone who is thought to be media is also being threatened."

The World Association of Newspapers in a letter to Donald Trump: "Dear Mr President, We are writing on behalf of the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries, to express our deep dismay at the hundreds of reports of violence being perpetrated against journalists covering ongoing protests in the United States and to call on you to forcefully condemn these attacks and show unwavering support for a free press."

• According to a report in The Washington Post, the new book by former national security advisor John Bolton alleges Trump suggested that more journalists should be arrested and jailed so the government could compel them to reveal their sources. 'These people should be executed,' Trump said in the meeting, according to Bolton. 'They are scumbags'."

Ruth Ben-Ghiat on CNN: "Americans who today support the beating of journalists and Trump's crusades against the press might reflect on this: authoritarians may start by demonizing one group, say, migrants, or African-Americans, but they inevitably expand to others. Those who today cheer at seeing journalists led away in handcuffs don't realize that one day they could be next."

Sunday World reporter Patricia Devlin, speaking to HoldTheFrontPage: “In October last year, I received a message to my personal Facebook account in which the sender threatened to rape my newborn son. Another family member was also named in the message, which was signed off with the name of neo-nazi terrorist organization ‘Combat 18’. This occurred after members of a criminal gang posted a direct link to my personal Facebook page on a number of forums."

Maria Ressa, the editor sentenced to up to six years in prison for "cyber-libel" in the Philippines, on Twitter: "For journalists here and around the world, I can't remember a more dangerous time to be a journalist. We #CourageON because this time matters #HoldTheLine."

Ex-Sun editor David Yelland on Twitter: "Boris Johnson is a second-rater, fired by The Times for making stuff up, never good enough for the Murdoch stable; we are ruled by ‘a tabloid thinker’ who couldn’t get a job at a tabloid. Cummings too. Wannabe populists."

Yorkshire Post editor James Mitchinson on Twitter: "My reporters, sadly, attend court hearings regularly where domestic violence is raked over. Never, EVER, would I blast up the perpetrator's defence. Especially a boastful lack of contrition. If this is journalism, I'm starting to think I'm in the wrong job."

• A spokeswoman for the Sun said: "It was certainly not our intention to 'enable' or 'glorify' domestic abuse, our intention was to expose a perpetrator's total lack of remorse. Our sympathies are always with the victims." 

Nic Newman in his summary of the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2020: "This year’s report comes in the midst of a global health pandemic that is unprecedented in modern times and whose economic, political, and social consequences are still unfolding. The seriousness of this crisis has reinforced the need for reliable, accurate journalism that can inform and educate populations, but it has also reminded us how open we have become to conspiracies and misinformation. Journalists no longer control access to information, while greater reliance on social media and other platforms give people access to a wider range of sources and ‘alternative facts’, some of which are at odds with official advice, misleading, or simply false."

Petition calling for the Guardian newspaper to be closed on Change.org: "The Guardian Newspaper was founded by John Edward Taylor from the profits of Cotton Plantation Slavery and therefore should be shut down."