IN her opinion piece on events in the US city of Charlottesville, and the growth of the far right (Echo, Aug 17) your reporter Jo Morris is quite correct in identifying the pernicious role the internet can play.

Across the West, racists and fascists use a multitude of sites to spread their poison. Jo Morris is right when she says that we should never allow the politics of hate to become normalised.

It is ironic then that here in Darlington, it is The Northern Echo which allows its online site to regularly host racist and hatefilled comments. I have had to contact editorial staff directly on a number of occasions when comments below news stories contain racist comments. The online reporting system works fitfully, if at all.

An Echo news story put online about criminal activity in Darlington has attracted a number of racist comments about members of the travelling community. As I write, the comments are still there for all to read. It is doubly ironic that the article was written by Jo Morris herself (and is of course a good piece of journalism).

If The Northern Echo is not to fatally trash its reputation, however, it needs to take seriously the role of moderating the online comments. A good start would be to allow comments only from “real” people (perhaps via Facebook accounts) and not the myriad of “sock puppets” who currently monopolise the Echo online. It is one thing to publish a worthy piece on opposing online race hate. It is another to take concrete action.

I hope the Echo will live up to Jo Morris’s worthy opinion piece. It needs to change its approach immediately.

Cllr Nick Wallis, Darlington