FOR 170 years, reporters at the Advertiser have been delivering news to the people of Swindon.

It was the first provincial paper priced at a penny when it was set up in 1854 and founder William Morris set up the paper to be the “mouthpiece of the poor”.

Today, it’s 70p and is printed daily but still aims to be the newspaper for everyone.

The Swindon Advertiser is today marking Trusted News Day. Across the country, newspapers and media outlets will be lifting the lid on how your newspapers are produced.

Backing the national Trusted News Day, Adver editor Pete Gavan said: “In a world where ‘fake news’ proliferates across the internet and social media, it’s more important than ever to know that you can trust what you read.

“My journalists have decades of experience between them, speaking to people and sifting fact from fiction.

“In the past year alone, we’ve uncovered accounting blunders, issues around NHS waiting times and election mix-ups.

“When more and more of the content you read online or on social media is written by press officers, the Advertiser is proud to be independent. We’re not in the pocket of the council PRs or NHS executives. The only mouthpiece we want to be is yours.”

Written by a team of five reporters in Dorcan, the day starts at 5am when the first articles begin appearing online.

Reporters work in shifts, with the first starting at 7am. The early reporter is responsible for checking social media, responding to any emails that have come in overnight and calling the police voicebank – where officers occasionally log witness appeals.

At 9.30am, the reporters will sit down with the news editor for the morning conference. It’s a chance to pitch stories for the website and the following day’s paper.

By lunchtime, the majority of reporters’ calls should be in. People will be in and out of the newsroom on jobs.

A furious quiet usually descends on the newsroom by 4pm, as reporters and editors try to finish the paper.

The late shift will finish at around 7pm. But it can go on later, with reporters regularly out until 9pm covering council meetings or public events.

Police incidents, such as murders or stabbings, have a habit of happening at bed time – seeing you throwing on trousers over pyjamas and heading out into the night. The paper is printed in Oxford from 10pm, ready for papers to drop onto doormats the next morning. And what drives the reporters? It’s what’s always driven journalists.