Could the steel-band on the picket line have picked a more appropriate song, to underline the plight facing local newspaper journalists, than “Gimme Hope, Jo’anna”? This video shows NUJ members on a four-day strike outside Johnston Press’ flagship newsroom in Leeds, home of the Yorkshire Post and Yorkshire Evening Post, where workers are fighting 18 compulsory redundancies. The union claims it’s the biggest regional newspaper strike for 20 years, with 140 staff walking out and more of the same promised for Thursday if the company doesn’t back down.

Earlier this month, the company appointed KPMG to advise on further savings and how it could restructure its £465 million debt facility - with its share price dipping to a new low of 6p last Friday, the impetus for radical action has never been greater.

SEE ALSO: Earnings: Johnston Sales Indicate Recession, Digital Slowed In Last Few Weeks

The video is a good symbol of where British newspapers are at right now from everyday journalists’ point of view: in absolute crisis. More cuts and restructures after the jump…