E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSUpdated at 9 p.m. ET: Anyone who has been fed up with salary, management or other issues that have made a job unbearable has surely dreamed of a "take-this-job-and-shove-it" moment. For most, though, news of the moment likely wouldn't make it outside the workplace walls.
That wasn't the case for a TV news anchor duo in Bangor, Maine, who quit their jobs in front of thousands of viewers at the end of Tuesday evening's newscast.
In what was reportedly inspired by a conflict with upper management, co-anchors Cindy Michaels and Tony Consiglio announced to viewers that it would be their last show, the Bangor Daily News reported.
The news anchors shared more than 12 years of experience working for WVII and sister station WFVX, according to the Daily News.
"Some recent developments have come to our attention ... and departing together is the best alternative we can take," Consiglio told viewers.
"We wanted to be able to say a thoughtful, heartfelt good-bye to our viewers and to the many communities we served over the years," Michaels told NBC News in an email Wednesday. "We scripted something to keep from getting off-course and emotional."
Michaels, 46, and Consiglio, 28, didn't tell anyone of their decision before the newscast, according to the Bangor Daily News. The newspaper reported the journalists were frustrated over the last four years with the way they were told to do their jobs. In her signoff, Michaels claimed the two were "the longest running news team in Bangor," with six years at the desk.
"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, who also served as the station's news director, told the Bangor Daily News. Her co-anchor, Consiglio, also served as executive producer for the station.
"There was a regular undoing of decisions made by me, the news director," Michaels told NBC News, citing that politically-charged stories were sometimes not treated with an unbiased approach.
Related: Dramatic tales of leaving jobs
Michaels' public LinkedIn profile indicates she has worked at the station since October 2006. Consiglio, who was first a sports anchor and reporter before moving over to the news anchor role, has worked at the station since April 2006, according to his public LinkedIn profile.
Mike Palmer, the station's vice president and general manager, told the Bangor Daily News the incident was "unfortunate, but not unexpected." Palmer denied claims that upper management was involved in daily news production.
But a 2006 New York Times' story indicates that may not be true. Following a broadcast segment about the showing of Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," Palmer wrote to his staff that they should refrain from reporting on global warming until Bar Harbor is underwater.
He explained: “a) we do local news, b) the issue evolved from hard science into hard politics and c) despite what you may have heard from the mainstream media, this science is far from conclusive.”
According to the Times' report, Palmer likened global to “global warming stories in the same category as ‘the killer African bee scare’ from the 1970s or, more recently, the Y2K scare when everyone’s computer was going to self-destruct.”
As of Wednesday morning, WVII's employment page listed no open job opportunities, but the Bangor Daily News reported Palmer posted online job opening ads Tuesday night.
The anchors are moving on: Michaels told viewers she will pursue freelance writing, while Consiglio said he'll continue his career "in another capacity."
See the video of the co-anchors final sign-off on the Bangor Daily News website.
More content from NBCNews.com:
- Americans tied to Israel caught in the chaos of Gaza conflict
- Suburban NYC mom sentenced in Manhattan prostitution case
- FBI raids Detroit Public Library main offices
- 13-year-old girl fatally shot on Florida school bus
- Beverly Hills attorney accused of squatting in home, trashing it
- Video: Real-life 'sleeping beauty' slept 64 days in a row
Leave a Comment:
Very ballsy move.
Good luck Ms. Consiglio and Mr. Michaels. I hope your employment prospects aere better than so many others unemployed either by choice or happenstance.
You got the sexes backwards, or was that deliberate ?
If you're not in the position to walk out the door today, you are a slave. The employee/employer relationship is a business relationship. They don't owe you any favors and you don't owe them any. If you can't afford to look for another job, then you need to work on your savings account. Stop leveraging yourself into slavery.
And the "war on women" continues from the LEFT. Why won't these LIBERALS that run the station negotiate with her?
Management has no obligation to negotiate. If you do not like your job quit. That is what she did - now everyone is happy!
Bufferilla,
Actually management should negotiate, especially since talent and committed people are getting harder to come by these days.
By not keeping good employees due to stubbornness or pride, they will learn that hiring, training, and dealing with less skilled people is more costly in the long run.
Don't believe me? Watch Good Day LA or pretty much any California news station right now...filled with airheads and empty suits. They talk over each other, report nonsense, yammer about nothing, make amateur errors, all while thinking they are cute. They are anything but. It is a sign of why employers should strive to keep professional employees employed.
By not negotiating to keep decent employees, employers are the real losers. Of course, you'll only understand my post, if you are NOT related in anyway to the employers of this news station.
Maybe so but it's management's option
none, you must've been paying attention in Business:101. The most prevalent cause of startup failure is getting those bucks in the door regardless of cost. My highschool economics teacher said, "If it's all about the money, you've already lost."
I worked for about a dozen years on the west coast for a couple who bought up failed startups, turned them around and sold them to major holding companies for a huge profit. Then, as a team, we'd all move on to the next project. Paying good people for their value to the business always paid off. Dumping the 'bosses' out of middle-management and bringing in talented managers always paid off.
Business is a complex endeavor with few friends and a lot of 'bad apples'. Successful businesses find and impliment the formula that satisfies the bottomline and investors without compromising their market or employee relations. It sounds simple, but in reality it may compare to the proverbial needle in a haystack.
Despite Gordon Gecko's admonishment, greed is not always good and could be the first step toward failure.
The station owners are most definitely not liberals. They also own the local FOX affiliate. The news production is a joint venture between both stations, and even the morning news is simulcast on both channels.
You got the sexes backwards, or was that deliberate "?
They must not have a Union to protect them from the Management overlords...it is a free country....you don't like the job or who you work for .....pack your bags and move on.
Libs they might have had better job offers that didn't put a cage of protection around obama
Wow!
Shades of Howard Beale (Peter Finch) from "Network":
"I'm mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore!"
Without more details, hard to know if it's a blow for independence or two prima donnas.
Me, I'm hoping for the former over the latter!
Ownership and management in many broadcast outlets in this country have changed substantially in the last 15 to 20 years. The trend has been to move away from experienced broadcasters moving into management. What is left is owners and management who have no clue about what it takes to run a successful radio or television station. I have been in the industry since 1970 and have been an employee and an owner. From the information provided, it is difficult to see exactly why these two quit in such a public manner. I suspect that the owner/management were trying to micromanage and only succeeded in losing two experienced employers.
Probably got fed up dealing with the liberal morons in the front office.
@gringo: ...Check the story. ...They DID say they were upset over the way they were told to do their jobs over the last FOUR YEARS. ...I think you got their point, spot on.
they're news readers. they get paid to read a teleprompter without looking like they're reading a teleprompter. maybe they can find a Fox affiliate in Enid, OK or Pocatello, ID. boo-hoo.....
Hello!!! It's business, not politics.
These stations are owned by a far right wing nutbag who prohibits any mention of climate change or other news he dislikes.
@sharky: ...Naaahh! ...These days they're all owned by the State OMG (Obamaganda Ministry of Garbage). ...They demand that any references to the truth about blatent lies from King Obama be censored.
...Didn't you notice that the two reporters said they "were frustrated over the last FOUR YEARS with the way they were told to do their jobs"???? ...Get a grip!
Good point Cappy. The news media is in it's way, entertainment, and these 2 have opened themselves a door to beomong newentainers. Good luck Cindy and Tony, we need more like you
Accolades for having the courage of their convictions!
it makes sense that you would see this first at the local stations. even old professional jobs are being treated like serfs by the new overlords of wall street.
gotta pick sides. gamblers or workers?
Good for them !! Congrats. and the best to them in the future .
There seems to be a rampant disrespect for the worker-bees in the workplace. I think it all began with the "Be glad you've got a job" attitude - as though we're all being paid for doing nothing, and the fiasco in Wisconsin with the Governor vs the unions and the attempted breaking up of unions across the country. How many businesses could survive one day without the day-to-day responsible workers who basically run most places but receive very little by way of respect (and an even bigger disparity with upper management in income)? Sad. I hope the pendulum begins swinging back the other way before complete demoralization sets in in the workplace, if it hasn't already, that could ruin our country.
I disagree with your assessment from the standpoint that the unions have served their purposes in the past and with effectiveness. Now it' about union heads, union lawyers and union PR firms getting rich off their duped masses.
When unions were formed, there was no minimum wage or OSHA or any of the state and federal regulatory agencies that insure worker rights, pay, safety and due process. Unions are now nothing more than protectionist groups scamming the blue collar, middle class.
As a former union employee and also as a senior manager, I can tell you there are "worker-bees" and bosses of all stripes. Respect is earned on both sides of the ledger. Most people who complain about their bosses or senior mgt are normally the slackers. They see no need for open dialogue on grievances, preferring the water cooler rants. Poor bosses do not open lines of communications and "include" staff in this process and often vent in public rather than in private. I've seen it all on both sides.
But unions are not the answer. Why work extra hard to get ahead of the pack if you're going to be paid the same as the malcontent or the slacker? Why offer opinion to help out the employer when the union tells you that can be detrimental to other workers? Well, that's why I left the union because it was about a few "well off" individuals who were adamant about protecting their livelihoods while masquerading as advocates for it's members.
They stepped down with dignity and respect for the audience.
That is one way to get Thanksgiving off.
well, just hope they didn't have apps in at Target or Walmart....
Might get a call tonight to start work tomorrow.....
that was pretty awesome
Tune in tonight to Fox Noise or Fakes And Friends tomorrow and one way or another this will be either nancy Pelosi's fault or Barrack Obama's fault. Heck maybe even that ben Ghazi guy's fault as well!
I commend them. News in the US is nothing more than Propaganda anymore. They will talk about a company hiring 150 people wile ignoring one laying off 8,000 or going into bankruptcy
Like raising the retirment age. Loads of people unemployed in their late 40's and considered too old by employers. But they want 70 year olds working?
The US is about to go down for the count. It may not be the Financial Cliff in December, but could be one of the Financial Cliffs each month all the next year. They vcan't keep this up and they know it.
walking off the job, despite their grievances, is such a professional way to enhance their resumes. good luck to them in finding another station to take on their fragile egos and passive agressive behavior.
to bad the lousy news staff entoto for wtap in parkersburg wv don't all resign in shame. the station allegedly are part of a cover up, conspiracy to not report on the alleged misuse of taxpayer funds in a small town nearby. in west virginia people earn a pittance when they work and have few benefits. this of course excludes the usual suspects such as doctors, lawyers etc. yet the small town of 8-10K pays about $16,500 per year towards the healthcare benefits of about 67 employees. this includes on the employees part a "staggering" $500 deductible/ family. a recent study showed people getting about $17k/ year for work. yet, this is covered up by the local media. news here is censord to protect the guilty.
Would have been better to start a new job and not show up, that is if they were treted like bums !
I admire them for being brave enough to quit. I have done the same in the past...........
Obviously they have sour grapes. They could have done the classy thing and resigned without having to make a "statement".
It is so refreshing to see people with integrity actually stand their ground! Awesome...Perhaps it could become a new way to do business...with honesty and decency...common sense and TRUTH...The public is very hungry for truth...
Commonsenseguy1, this is becoming much more common in this job market. Employers hold the upper hand, at this point, and are becoming brazen at abusing that position. This job market is not going to last for ever and Karma does have a way of swinging around and biting you dead in the arse, something employers and management need to keep in mind. When it swings back around to an employee market there will be a churning mill on a grand scale. It will then be the employers scrambling, especially those who abuse their positions.
I applaud these news anchors for the way in which they handled their departure when they could have taken a much different path.
don't know the reason or reasons behind it but that was "ballsey" ooh phucking rah!!!