Bangor’s longest running news team — on a combination ABC and FOX affiliate — quit their jobs to the surprise of colleagues and viewers.
Cindy Michaels and Tony Consiglio have been anchors at ABC affiliate WVII and Fox affiliate WFVX in Bangor for six years, but claimed that the owners and managers had been increasingly intervening in their newscasts over the last four
The two quit on the air, without prior announcement to the staff, because they wanted a chance to say goodbye to their viewers.
As for why they gave up a job that they evidently
loved?
“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 …
Michaels said there were numerous things that contributed to their decisions.
“It’s a culmination of ongoing occurrences that took place the last several years and basically involved upper management practices that we both strongly disagreed with,” she explained. “It’s a little complicated, but we were expected to do somewhat unbalanced news, politically, in general.”
While this is simply an affiliate and, therefore, seemingly without editorial control from News Corp, hard to not think of this within the context of Faux News. And, when it comes to something affiliated with Faux News, a direction to do “unbalanced news, politically” seems so shocking and out-of-context that, well, sacre bleu!
Of course, there is zero basis for questioning as to whether there was any such interference.
After all,
Mike Palmer, WVII/WFVX vice president and general manager, denied their charges. “Upper management is not involved in the daily production of the news. Period,”
A Faux News affiliate’s executive explained that there isn’t an issue.
Nothing to see.
Look elsewhere.
“Period.”
Hmmm …
Back in 2006, Palmer made it to the New York Times in one of those situations where “upper management is not involved in the daily production of the news.”
Michael Palmer, the general manager of television stations WVII and WFVX, ABC and Fox affiliates in Bangor, has told his joint staff of nine men and women that when “Bar Harbor is underwater, then we can do global warming stories.”
“Until then,” he added. “No more.”
Palmer explained his non-interference in the news
despite what you may have heard from the mainstream media, this science is far from conclusive
Climate scientist Jim Hansen responded:
“If you wait until Bar Harbor is underwater, it’s too late,” Dr. Hansen said. “It won’t be just Bar Harbor that is underwater, but many places around the globe including parts of Florida, Bangladesh and the Nile Delta.”
Dr. Hansen said the nonpartisan National Academy of Sciences made it “very clear that this is a real issue and we need to address it very promptly.”
Dr. Hansen added that “fortunately, there is more than one” source for information on global warming around the country and that he assumed “that the people of Maine will have at their disposal other sources of information.”
With this rather clear public record, should we give more credence to two broadcasters who quit their jobs due to direction to skew their reporting for political reasons or should we close our eyes because Anti-Science Syndrome Hater Of a Livable Economy Palmer tells us there is nothing to see, “Period.”