THERE have been many elections to cover in my 35 years in newspapers but the latest was extraordinary for all kinds of reasons:

The way it underlined our divided nation, with David Cameron pulling off a result even the most optimistic Tories couldn’t believe; the SNP sweeping across Scotland on an astonishing tidal wave of nationalism; and the North-East squeezed in the middle under Labour’s strengthened grip.

I will also remember Election 2015 for the way it helped to define how journalism is changing so rapidly. While 2010 was the first social media election, 2015 was the election where it was felt at full force.

Having to write a front page headline at 1.30am, knowing it could well be woefully out of date by the time copies of the paper arrived at newsagents five hours later, underlines the challenges facing the print media.

As it happened, we chose the headline “Disunited kingdom” which has already stood the test of time.

But it is the second-by-second coverage on the internet which is now the priority. And trusted local journalism, which is closer to communities than any national news organisation can ever be, is establishing its rightful place.

That place was emphasised when Darlington found itself at the centre of national attention over a ballot paper printing error.

In seconds, social media was an unfathomable whirlwind of speculation and endless uninformed claims. A candidate had been missed off the ballot papers and the election would not be going ahead, it was claimed.

As the whirlwind gathered pace, with even news agencies in America commenting on the “crisis”, Ada Burns, chief executive of Darlington Borough Council, chose to call me to put it all into context.

There had indeed been a highly regrettable error, with the Ukip candidate David Hodgson’s name missing from ballot papers. But it was one polling station and it affected 89 votes already cast. The election would go ahead as planned and the message from the council was “Keep on voting.”

That enabled The Northern Echo, the trusted local paper, to be the source of the real story, through tweets and Facebook postings pointing to an informed article on our website. Within seconds, The Northern Echo was being quoted by several national newspaper websites and the “it’s business as usual” message had blanket coverage.

It seems to me to be a lesson in how to manage a local crisis by using trusted local journalists, working for long-established titles embedded in local communities.

And it underlines why, despite all the current challenges arising from new technology, local journalism - and individual local journalists - will have an increasingly important place in the new media landscape.