Maine news team, working for a Fox News affiliate, quits on air to protect their journalistic integrity.

Courtesy of the New York Daily News: 

Cindy Michaels, 46, and Tony Consiglio, 28, shocked their colleagues at ABC’s Bangor, Maine, affiliate WVII with their sudden resignation. The announcement appeared relatively cordial on camera. 

“Some recent developments have come to our attention,” said Consiglio, “and departing together is the best alternative we can take.” 

But off camera, the co-anchors elaborated, citing alleged disrespect from superiors and pressure to do biased journalism, reported Bangor Daily News. 

“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 was also the show’s executive producer. 

Michaels, also the station’s news director, criticized upper management, with whom she had clear differences. 

“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,” said Michaels. 

Consiglio started at the station as a sports reporter in 2006. Michaels had been at the station for six years and worked in the Bangor market for 15 years. But the alleged pressure to do shoddy journalism – after a combined 12 ½ years – was too much to take, they said. 

“It’s a little complicated,” Michaels continued, “but we were expected to do somewhat unbalanced news, politically, in general.” 

Neither anchor specified what political stances the management allegedly wanted them to espouse.

While the news team was careful to parse their words, the reason for their frustration was not especially difficult for observers to figure out. This from Raw Story: 

While neither of the former anchors would go on record to detail how they were being pressured to slant the news, some bloggers have speculated that Fox affiliate WFVX had been moving to emulate conservative bias at Fox News. 

The WFVX 10 p.m. newscast is simulcasted on talk radio station WNZS-AM 1340, which also airs shows hosted by conservative personalities Laura Ingraham, Bill Bennett, Mike Gallagher and Michael Medved.

I think it can be assumed, with much confidence, that the two journalists realized that in order to continue working for this Fox News affiliate they would have to walk away from every rule of journalism they have ever learned.

Sadly that has apparently NEVER been a problem for the likes of Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Greta Van Susteren, or the other dispensers of propaganda currently employed by Roger Ailes.

So good for Cindy Michaels and Tony Cosiglio. Hopefully they will not be the LAST TRUE journalists to exercise their right to not spew lies and disinformation on behalf of the Republican party.