Fewer than half of Johnston Press’s employees (48.9 per cent) would recommend the company “as a good place to work”, according to an internal staff survey.

The results of the ‘Your Say’ poll, which was completed by more than 70 per cent of staff, also show that just over half of people would “like to stay at this company to fulfil my career ambitions” (57.6 per cent) and feel they “get recognition for a job well done” (55.8 per cent).

Johnston Press is the fourth biggest regional newspaper group in the UK with more than 200 newspapers and websites. In common with other big publishers, in recent years it has made hundreds of journalists redundant and made widespread changes in order to cut costs. These have included the closure of local newspaper offices, the creation of hubs providing content for multiple titles and fewer editors being put in charge of more titles.