The News of the World suggested that viewing figures had fallen by a quarter in just a month, with blame focused on a poor reception for Collins and viewers' unhappiness with the number of gay characters on the soap.
Collinson confirmed that he and Collins had asked to appear on ITV1's daytime magazine show This Morning in order to "answer back" the "inaccurate and disingenuous" claims.
Collins - who made her debut as Stella Price last month - explained: "I'm the sort of person... I'm quite dignified, so I was thinking, ' No, just sit back and it'll all go away'. But it hasn't gone away."
On criticism of her accent, Collins admitted that it was "not my choice" to do a northern accent in the role.
"I'm an actor. I was in a soap 15 years ago, and I've done lots of other jobs in between where I've had accents as well," she said. "To me, it was embarking on a new role.
"I'm not even sure that's many of the public. I think it's a few tabloid journalists that have picked up on something and then it escalates. It's very mischievous, I think they like to cause... they're just being mischievous, to be honest with you."
Collinson described Collins's accent as "brilliant", insisting that the soap "wouldn't want to" have her drop it.
"Just to robustly say, we are really happy with Michelle's performance," he said. "I think we're really happy with the character. We've got storylines planned for this new family right through next year."
Collins admitted that she is "bewildered" by the various claims, but added that she knew it would take time for the character to be accepted.
"I haven't even be on air for four weeks. It's like, hold on a minute. Jane Danson was telling me that when the Battersbys went in, there was a petition to get rid of them," she said. "When the Slaters went in [to EastEnders], I remember telling John Yorke, 'I don't like them. They're never going to work'. About five years later, he said to me: 'What did you say to me?' People just have to let you breathe. People are [not] used to me. I'm just sort of bewildered."
She continued: "I'm a big girl and I'm tough. What annoys me is that I'm quite bewildered by it. What annoys me is that most of the things they are saying are untrue. Coronation Street has made me very welcome and people among the cast haven't complained."
However, Collins did confirm that reports of a storyline which will see Stella knocked down by a drunk Carla Connor are true.
"Storylines are storylined six months in advance. So, whoever played Stella would have been involved in this storyline," she said. "It's not because they are trying to win viewers over. The public aren't silly."
Collinson also dismissed tabloid claims that Coronation Street's ratings have fallen dramatically, telling hosts Phillip Schofield and Jenni Falconer that the high figure mentioned had come from an instalment aired during the week of 9pm episodes scheduled between Britain's Got Talent shows. The lower rated episode was one which aired directly against an Andy Murray Wimbledon game.
"They took those two ratings," he explained. "It's a bit mischievous really. In actual fact, if we compare the ratings for the last four-week period with the same period for last year, we are actually around 5 or 6% up.
"There is absolutely no crisis at Coronation Street. The ratings are in brilliant shape. ITV are very pleased with the way the show is performing."
Finally, the producer took on complaints that the Manchester serial is too focused on gay characters.
Collinson said: "We have a very broad cast; 65 regulars and two gay couples. In the research that we do, Hayley, Sean and Sophie are among the most popular characters. They're right up there among the most popular characters in the show.
"Of course we are going to tell stories about our most popular characters. The audience want us to tell stories about these characters. There is no gay agenda. There is no soapbox. We are telling stories about love."
Collins concluded: "It's 2011 and we're talking about too many gay characters on TV? Come on people, this is crazy."
View the full interview here: http://www.itv.com/this-morning/life/ontodaysshows12711/
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