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21 Nov 2012
We quit:
Consiglio, second left, and Michaels, third left, claim bosses at Fox
Bangor News forced them to report ‘unbalanced’ political news items
Cindy Michaels and Tony Consiglio stated they have been subjected to read “unbalances news stories” on air.
‘There was a constant disrespecting and belittling of staff and we both felt there was a lack of knowledge from ownership and upper management in running a newsroom to the extent that I was not allowed to structure and direct them professionally,’ Michaels told BangorDailyNews.com.
Michaels, who joined the station in 2006, said a balanced journalistic approach was often frowned upon, although she wasn’t specific about what political leaning senior management had expected the reporters to adopt.
‘I couldn’t do everything I wanted to as a news director. There was a regular undoing of decisions,’ she said.
Both Michaels and Consiglio said the idea to resign was something they had talked about for some time and so felt was right to make as a joint decision.
‘I just wanted to know that I was doing the best job I could and was being honest and ethical as a journalist, and I thought there were times when I wasn’t able to do that,’ said Consiglio, who joined the station in 2006 as a sports reporter before becoming a news anchor the next year.
Neither presenter told anyone of their decision prior to Tuesday’s broadcast for fear they wouldn’t be given the opportunity to say goodbye to viewers.
WFVX-LP is the Fox affiliate for Central and Eastern Maine and is licensed to serve Bangor.
The station’s general manager Mike Palmer described the on air resignations as ‘unfortunate, but not unexpected’ and denied that senior management gets involved in the daily production of news.
He claimed the station is bucking the industry trend toward downsizing and has added 10 full-time jobs over the past 18 months.
Michaels gained notoriety during the 2008 presidential election due to her striking resemblance to Sarah Palin, then the Republican nominee for Vice President.
Fox News ran a news item about how Michaels received hate mail and nasty phone calls from viewers; she described being compared to Palin as ‘an honor.’
Both reporters said they don’t have anything lined up in terms of new jobs in the media, although Michaels has started freelance writing.
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