Yesterday former newspaper editor and journalism trainer David Scott, gave his analysis of the current state of the industry in an extract from his book ‘Death By A Thousand Clots.’

Today in this second extract, David, pictured left, focuses on two major national news stories and the different ways in which they were handled by the local newspapers on the patch.

Regional newspaper reporters have always found their job more difficult when a big story breaks on their patch and national newspaper hacks throw their company’s money around. Just ask local reporters in Gloucestershire about some of the problems they faced when reporting on the murders committed by Fred and Rosemary West in 1992. Neighbours held out their hands asking for payment before answering even the most simple of questions. Dog has always eaten dog in the newspaper industry with the red tops in particular employing ‘heavies’ to guard anyone whose story they have bought up. The poor local reporter has often been frozen out.

Occasionally, as the Derby Telegraph showed in 2013, with its coverage of the trial of Mick Philpott, his wife Mairead and a friend who killed six of the Philpott children in a botched arson attempt, a local paper can do a far better job than the nationals without flashing a cheque book. ‘Shameless Mick’, as the paper dubbed Philpott seven years earlier, was well known to the Telegraph’s newsroom. Editor Neil White and his managing director Steve Hall, a former editor, put massive resources into their coverage of the Philpott trial and its aftermath. It was local journalism at its very best. The paper still had enough reader loyalty to deliver in-depth insights and information which would have been the norm 30 years ago, but are not necessarily the case today.

Said Neil: “The paper produced 29 pages about the case – including background information – gleaned from months of interviewing those close to it. For six weeks the Telegraph had at least one reporter, sometimes two, in court. It was the first time the paper had covered a trial online and in print simultaneously. Reporters in the court room sent at least 20 texts a day, which were used to update and re-headline the live story. The time of each new line was displayed throughout the article, with the latest at the top. Not a moment of courtroom action was missed as there was a two-reporter relay system in place.

“For optimum search engine optimisation each story also featured a large number of related articles links. On Twitter reporters used #philpott and #philpottstrial to tweet out each new line. The paper splashed on the Philpotts most days of the trial with between three and five pages of copy in each edition. Thus, organisation was paramount. One double page spread was filed during the lunch interval and another at the end of the day. The need for excellent fast shorthand was obvious. This was the most important trial in Derby’s recent history and the eyes of the world were on the Telegraph and its website.

“Equally, ethics were a consideration. On occasions salacious side-line information was presented during the trial but we made decisions not to include it. One of the reasons was that it could have sullied the reputations of those innocent parties whose names were mentioned in connection with unsubstantiated claims over sexual and physical abuse.

“The Philpott case was one of the toughest and most rewarding of my career. After its conclusion I was delighted that our coverage received praise from within Derby and outside for its thoroughness and its avoidance of sensationalism. It demonstrated the importance of all of the basic journalistic skills – accuracy, spotting the best line in a story, shorthand, time management and ethics.”

The same could not be said a year later when the Rotherham child sex abuse scandal broke. The local paper hardly knew what was going on under its nose until a national newspaper reporter investigated. I don’t blame the Rotherham Advertiser’s Editor, Andrew Mosley, who does his best with limited resources, but it took a national newspaper reporter with the time to investigate to reveal all the sordid details.

When Andrew came under fire he hit back, saying: “We didn’t miss the ‘Rotherham child sexual exploitation’ story. It wasn’t something we didn’t spot on a council agenda or that was discussed in a meeting that we couldn’t attend due to lack of staff. I do not know, but would surmise, that the reporter was provided with the information that led to his initial story by someone with inside knowledge who wanted to create a national splash – and it worked.” Fair enough, but it did expose the Advertiser’s lack of local contacts. I would have hoped somebody would have tipped off the local paper!

I am not alone in questioning how much local papers can hold authorities and individuals to account when they are running on half the staff numbers they had only a few years ago, and to some extent are dependant financially and materially upon them. Has investigative journalism been abandoned in favour of the story count and the need to fill a set space as quickly as possible?

The reporter who broke the Rotherham story, Andrew Norfolk, learned his craft on the Scarborough News back in the days when reporters were given the time to investigate and challenge what they saw and heard. I wonder how many such reporters we will have in the future who will have what are loosely called ‘old school skills’? Unfortunately, too many newspaper managements do not know what I am talking about. Few care; even fewer have any long term commitment towards the sort of stories readers want and would be prepared to pay to read.

One comment posted on HoldtheFrontPage at the time made me smile because it hit the right mark. The anonymous writer said: “Have you been inside a local weekly newspaper office lately? (assuming the paper still has an office). Do you have any idea how few editorial staff are left? And how much mundane rubbish the remaining handful are forced to plough through before they can even think of tackling a proper story such as child sex grooming?

“The only way a typical local newspaper reporter can hope to uncover a story of this magnitude is if they do it in their own spare time, spending many hours during their evenings, weekends and annual leave working for no money. I can imagine the bean counters in charge of our industry would love that. They’d soon start insisting that all reporters work even more hours for nothing.”

• Death by a Thousand Clots can be purchased on Kindle, priced £3.95, or as a paperback at £8.99.