The Labour politician claimed that local papers run ‘constant negative stories’ that highlight crimes and run down the local councils. Mr Rooney also said newspapers had ‘genuinely lost their way and more positive stories is the way to reverse the trend’.

The rest of the Facebook post included the statistics from the Audit Bureau of Circulation published last week which shows the readership of every local newspaper in the UK.

Speaking about the downward trend in paper sales, he said: “I don’t know the specific reasons but I would guess its down to instant news on the internet and social media such as facebook. But I also think its a lot to do with the constant negative stories that locals run highlighting crimes such as garden shed thefts and running down the local councils etc. I genuinely think they have lost their way and more positive stories is the way to reverse the trend.” The Reporter responded to Cllr Rooney’s comments asking if it was appropriate for a council leader to comment on how local newspapers are run and if crime should not be reported. We also asked if newspapers should only run positive council stories.

Within minutes of receiving the communication challenging his comments, the post was deleted and Cllr Rooney replied with a one-worded answer, saying ‘deleted’.

John McLellan, spokesman for the Scottish Newspaper Soceity told the Reporter: “Local newspapers are packed every week, and their websites every day, with positive news about their communities, marking births, marriages, school achievements, graduations, and happy anniversaries. But they are not there to sanitise problems or provide propaganda for local authorities.

“Wise civic leaders understand that fair criticism is a necessary part of accountability and scrutiny and do not expect their local paper to be a slavish celebrant of all they do.

“And with online and mobile audiences growing steadily, it is no longer sufficient to measure the relevance or otherwise of any news organisation simply through hard copy sales.” Henry Ainslie, editor of the Reporter, said: “It is true that newspaper sales are declining across the board but our audience is growing all the time through our unrivalled online coverage of stories and issues affecting Dumbarton and the Vale of Leven.

“We have a duty to report everything that has, is, and is going to happen in the area – regardless of whether it is ‘positive’ or ‘negative’.

“Cllr Rooney is perfectly entitled to his opinion on declining sales, and I would like to take this opportunity to publicly invite him to guest edit an edition of the Reporter, and put his theories in to practice.” Cllr Rooney has yet to return calls from the Reporter.

Martin Rooney’s online comments in full: “The average weekly newspaper circulation continues to fall. I am not really surprised by this but its a worrying trend that will lead to mergers or some newspapers going bust. This affects local jobs but newspapers are also an integral part of our community. I don’t know the specific reasons but I would guess its down to instant news on the internet and social media such as facebook. But I also think its a lot to do with the constant negative stories that locals run highlighting crimes such as garden shed thefts and running down the local councils etc. I genuinely think they have lost their way and more positive stories is the way to reverse the trend. Circulation must go up when the newspapers do positive news stories such as pupils starting schools etc.”