News anchors deal with a tough job. Not only do they have to report on some heinous, heartbreaking stories–which can weigh heavy on the heart after a while if one doesn’t become desensitized to it–they also have to contend with the management on what is acceptable to cover…and what is not.
Two anchors in Maine decided to tender their resignations after station management allegedly created a pattern of disrespect and made the job harder by expecting them to report biased news. But they didn’t put it in writing; instead, they resigned on-air, saying they knew they wouldn’t get a chance to say goodbye otherwise.
“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,” Cindy Michaels said, adding that she and co-anchor Tony Consiglio “were expected to do somewhat unbalanced news, politically, in general.”
The station managers claim they didn’t have a hand in the news productions at all, but the New York Times did a piece a few years back regarding general manager Michael Palmer issuing the directive to not report on global warming stories until “Bar Harbor is underwater”.