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I read **と言っていた** and **と言っていました** would be the most common and neutral way to
report speech. While **と言っている** and **と言っています** also sound okay, they carry a
notion of _the quoted speaker is still thinking this way_.

Reading some NHK easy news article however I noticed that **と言っています** like in

> 厚生労働者は「全体では新しい社員の給料は上がり続けています」と言っています。

or

> しかし世界中の研究者は、赤ちゃんの遺伝の情報を変えたことが本当だったら問題があると言っています。

seems to be the most common expression, followed by **と言いました** :

>
> 「このパイロットが飛行機に乗るすぐ前まで、酒を飲み続けていたのは間違いありません。日本に着くまでの１２時間に、大きな事故が起こったかもしれません」と言いました。
>
> 会社は、来年３月に１種類のウイスキーを売るのをやめると言いました。

**と言っていました** I actually read quite seldom. One of the few examples (other
forms like と話していました included) I could find in the last articles was:

> 利用した人は「安心して乗ることができましたが、もう少しはっきりわかる色にしてほしいです」と言っていました。(about the design of
> escaltors which shall prevent people from climbing the stairs)

(The normal articles of NHK seem to me to prefer the usage of と述べました,i.e.
と言いました.)

I don't think と言っていますis here supposed to carry the notion mentioned above. Is
this form more common because it is considered easier japanese? But in terms
of difficulty it doesn't seem to make much difference which of these three
forms is used, does it? Do special rules apply to newspapers somehow? I am
quite confused now. (≧д≦ヾ)
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question
grammar
Confusion about reported speech; と言っていました seems to be quite rare
> 厚生労働者は「全体では新しい社員の給料は上がり続けています」と言っています -> Workers say that in general, the
> wage of all the new members continue to increase
>
> しかし世界中の研究者は、赤ちゃんの遺伝の情報を変えたことが本当だったら問題があると言っています。 -> However, researchers
> from all over the world say that it would be problematic if they really
> changed the babies' genetic
>
>
> 「このパイロットが飛行機に乗るすぐ前まで、酒を飲み続けていたのは間違いありません。日本に着くまでの１２時間に、大きな事故が起こったかもしれません」と言いました。
> : They said "until before this before gets onto the plane, it was sure that
> he had been drinking. A big accident may have occured during the 12 hours
> until they arrive in Japan"
>
> 会社は、来年３月に１種類のウイスキーを売るのをやめると言いました。 : The company said that they would stop
> selling 1 type of whiskey in march next year
>
> 利用した人は「安心して乗ることができましたが、もう少しはっきりわかる色にしてほしいです」と言っていました。 : The users said that
> they could get on without worrying, but they wanted them to make it in a
> color a bit more recognizable.

It is wrong to say that when quoting someone (so at the third person) it is
always the most natural to use 言っていた. The thing is, in this case, 言っていた is
used when we want to directly quote someone, whereas 言った is used when we want
to "indirectly quote".

So while 言っていた is more about retelling something, 言った is more about the action
of saying. Which is why it's often said that ていた is the only correct
grammatically when quoting.

But if we look at a sentence like:

> 「どうせ君も俺の金目当てなんだろ！」と彼が言ったので

From <https://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1280477987>

We can see it's not true at all because it's a quotation, yet it still uses
the 言った form. And it's not the only example we can find.

Now for the difference between the past and present tense, it's the same as in
English:

> South Korea **says** there were [...] labour, 5,000 of whom are alive. The
> Japan Times **said** : “The term ‘fo[...] were re...

It's just a matter of tense.

So to sum it up and make it easier to understand, you can interpret the three
forms as below:

> と言っています : are saying / have said (say)
>
> と言っていました : were saying / had said (said)
>
> と言いました : said / have said

Of course, you would probably not translate them like this, but thinking of
と言っていました as "were saying" is a good way to help yourself understanding that
it's a direct quotation. As literally, 言って/ **いました** means " **was in the
state of** having said". So if for example you used 言っていました to say "my sister
said this", it would add a nuance that would make others think that you
witnessed (heard, saw or anything) your sister completing the action of saying
(言って) and being (居る).
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answer
I am still a japanese intermediate learner myself but I think, well not I,
according to this page <https://ameblo.jp/stravaganza-
no2/entry-11975095608.html> I think you can sum up the difference between
a)と言いました and b)と言っていました as a) is focusing on the speech act or the person who
said something while b) is focusing on the content (which may be the most
usual case and therefore appears to be the most common)

So using the example from the webpage >> スーさんは明日試験があると言いました<< becomes
something like >> **It was Susan who said that** we will have a test
tommorrow.<< while >>スーさんは明日試験があると言っていました<< will become something like >>Guess
what! Susan said **we will be having a test tomorrow!** << The first sentence
may be imbedded in a conversation like _Susan says everyday we will write a
test tommorrow so don't panic_ , the second may be from a conversation like
_Oh no, what to do? I don't get this subject at all! But if I fail the test, I
will have to repeat the year!_

Edit: I forgot to add, it seems like, if the content of an utterance is
important or somehow relevant to a current conversation, you can use the
present progressive form which might be why you read rather と言っています than
と言っていました in news article. But this kind of usage isn't really explained in the
link I gave you so you better check the reason for it further.
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answer