Watch out the consultants are about

Just when you think things can't get any worse, Hold the Front Page reports that consultants are about, this time at Archant in Norfolk, conducting a dreaded productivity review to "measure journalists' output". These are the people who can't understand why reporters and subs sometimes have nothing to do and are then engulfed in work. It's called news, stupid.
Good to see HTPF posters are giving the consultants a pasting.
Hilary Jones: "If Archant want to save money, why spend the consultants' fees?"
Lister: "If managers need to bring in consultants to tell them what is wrong with their business, then that says more about the managers than it does the journalists they are supposed to be managing. Sadly, it's the same in every newsroom - certainly my own. We are being run by people who really do not know what they are doing and should not be let loose within a mile of a newspaper."
Observer:"There was a 'productivity review' at Northcliffe when I worked there - it was called 'Aim Higher', but was christened 'Aim Fire'. And that's exactly what happened. I wonder how many of these consultants have spent hours on the phone trying to track down a quote or a contact, or half a day in court to get a 400 word splash? None I expect. These things are not very productive in one sense, but they get the stories and sell the papers. That's what journalists are for, you fools."