The robocall claims the Sandpoint Reader has a "leftist agenda" and that publisher Ben Olson is a "cancer on wholesome North Idaho" that must be "burned out.

SANDPOINT - The publisher of a northern Idaho weekly newspaper is being attacked in anonymous robocalls.

The Bonner County Daily Bee reports the Sandpoint Reader's Ben Olson is the subject of robocalls appearing on answering machines this week.

Olson in a statement decried it as an attempt to impugn people who stand up to racism and intolerance but said it's been "free advertising" and brought an outpouring of kindness in the community.

The robocall claims the alternative weekly has a "leftist agenda" and that Olson is a "cancer on wholesome North Idaho" that must be "burned out." It urges people to boycott the paper's advertisers.

The city's police chief hasn't commented.