Weekly wins awards for asylum-seeker articles

The Barking and Dagenham Recorder has won two awards for its reporting of asylum and refugee issues. The weekly newspaper (circ. 17,574) came first in the London mayor's press awards in the "best background and comment material category", for a front page article which revealed the true number of asylum seekers in the borough receiving support from the Home Office, and first again for the "best use of visual material" with a feature which looked at the contribution that asylum seekers and refugees have made to the borough. In presenting the awards, the mayor, Ken Livingstone, said: "In light of the raw racism we've seen on the streets of Barking and Dagenham since the local elections, it is encouraging to see that the Recorder has sought to tell the truth and expose racist myths." (Via Barking & Dagenham Recorder)