“Grand total to decrease?” they report sensationally (6,5)
I believe the answer is:
gutter press
'they report sensationally' is the definition.
(term for sensationalist newspapers)
'grand total to decrease?' is the wordplay.
'grand' becomes 'g' (synonyms).
'total' becomes 'utter' (I've seen this before).
'to decrease?' becomes 'press' (to iron or press is to de-crease).
'g'+'utter'+'press'='GUTTER PRESS'
(Other definitions for gutter press that I've seen before include "collection of dirty rags" , "Rag producers investing" , "4 [RAG] as an example" , "Muck-raking journalists" , "Sensationalist journalism" .)