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Two anchors who have worked at Maine sister television stations, ABC affiliate WVII and Fox affiliate WFVX, for a combined 12 years cited "unbalanced news" after they surprised staff on Tuesday by tendering their resignations on the air.

At the end of the 6 p.m. newscast, Cindy Michaels and Tony Consiglio thanked viewers and said that departing together was the best alternative because of some "recent developments."

Consiglio told the Bangor Daily News that he quit because "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."

Michaels, who also served as the station's news director, said that there was a "regular undoing of decisions" that she made.

"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," she explained.

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

WVII/WFVX vice president and general manager Mike Palmer, however, insisted that management did not interfere with decisions in the news room.

"Upper management is not involved in the daily production of the news. Period," he told the paper. "We’ve made great changes over the last few months and are not slowing down."

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.

(h/t: Mediaite)

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Howard Kurtz must not watch any of MSNBC's daytime coverage if he's going to paint the entire network as liberal and siding with the union members because of Ed Schultz's coverage of the protests in Wisconsin. Apparently he missed this.

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If he wants to paint Ed Schultz, Cenk Uygur, Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes who's filling in at night once in a while with that brush, that's fine. But don't pretend that most of the rest of their coverage has been anything other than either a mixed bag, full of half truths and false equivalencies or downright hostile the the people out there on the streets.

And you've just got to love someone from a network that's been openly promoting the astroturf "tea party" AND that has just hired Erick Erickson and Dana Loesch for some (cough) fair and balanced commentary, taking issue with Ed Schultz advocating for the union members.

So promoting the Koch brothers and their corporate funded protests and hiring a couple of flaming right wingers as part of your "Best Political Team on Television" is a-okay, but promoting working people who don't want their collective bargaining rights taken away is something a network anchor shouldn't be advocating for. Gotcha Howard.

Transcript via CNN below the fold.

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From Larry King Live Oct. 30, 2008. Michael Medved has a bit of trouble getting his Joe Lieberman talking points past Arianna Huffington and Paul Begala.

KING: Michael Medved, could he turn some votes?

MEDVED: Sure, Bill Clinton still. However, most people already know that Hillary has endorsed Barack Obama. Bill Clinton has endorsed Barack Obama. I was with Joe Lieberman last night in Ohio, and Joe Lieberman made a terrific point which is that right now there is this simmering controversy about a tape involving Barack Obama and Rashid Khalidi. Rashid Khalidi, who was a PLO of the United States who apparently Obama, the "L.A. Times" is reporting, was toasting and praising just a couple of years ago.

Why won't they release the tape? Joe Lieberman made the point last night in Cleveland, Ohio, that if Barack Obama wants to put this to rest he should come forward and ask the "Los Angeles Times", please, make that tape public, put this issue to bed.

BEGALA: Come on.

KING: One thing before Paul responds, Michael, I believe that Khalidi denies ever being in the PLO and also has stated he and Obama disagree on almost everything about the situation with regard to the Palestinians.

MEDVED: So why not release the tape of an evening in which a number of people expressed determination to wipe out the state of Israel? Why not release it?

BEGALA: Michael, you're terribly troubled that six months ago the "L.A. Times" reported this, by the way. So it's an ancient news story in terms of political press cycles in a presidential campaign.

So six months ago it was reported that many years ago Barack Obama might have been at a banquet that included this guy Khalidi who is a professor who has views completely antithetical to Senator Obama's on Israel.

Are you equally troubled that Mr. Khalidi's group was funded to the tune of $450,000 by a group John McCain chairs, the International Republican Institute? John McCain was sending hundreds of thousand of dollars to Khalidi and Barack Obama apparently was eating a rubber chicken with him at a banquet one night and you're all up in arms and you and Joe Lieberman has his panties in a wad.

(CROSSTALK)

MEDVED: Why not release the tape? Why should the tape be held secret?

BEGALA: Michael, it is so beneath Senator McCain.

HUFFINGTON: Michael isn't even responding to what Paul is saying.

MEDVED: I will respond very gladly, Arianna.

(CROSSTALK)

MEDVED: First of all, the charges are not that they were at the banquet together. The charge is that Barack Obama offered a toast to Mr. Khalidi and said we're going to miss you and talked about how much he admired him.

HUFFINGTON: OK.

MEDVED: This is an individual who is committed to the destruction of the state of Israel.

HUFFINGTON: Michael, I do wish that that tape would be released.

MEDVED: Good.

HUFFINGTON: Because I'm tired of tapes being presented as fearmongering. We had the tapes, supposedly Michelle Obama who said something about whitey and for the entire primary, we're waiting for the whitey tape. And now we're going to be waiting for the Khalidi tape. The real fact that you are not answering is that $450,000 has gone to Khalidi's group by an organization chaired by John McCain. Just stop, Michael, it's frankly beneath you.

MEDVED: Frankly, Arianna, I know nothing about that organization. I will look into it.

BEGALA: Oh so, Joe Lieberman didn't mention that to you, Michael?

MEDVED: The point is that Joe Lieberman who you campaigned for, Paul Begala, rear enthusiastically as I recall.

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