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VIDEO: Maine Newscasters Quit On Live TV

By: Eyder Peralta // November 21, 2012
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The "longest running news team in Bangor" quit with, well, a bang, Tuesday night. Cindy Michaels and Tony Consiglio announced their resignation during the live 6 p.m. newscast.

Here's how it went down:

The Bangor Daily News reports the dramatic exit brought an end to a "longstanding battle with upper management over journalistic practices at their Bangor TV stations."

Michaels told the paper that the two decided to quit on-air because they thought that had they done otherwise, management would not have allowed them to say goodbye.

"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 was also the news director, told the Daily News. "I couldn't do everything I wanted to as a news director. There was a regular undoing of decisions."

The Associated Press spoke to their boss, Mike Palmer.

"Sometimes people leave before they're officially told to leave," Palmer said. When asked if he noticed any viewer reaction, he said the station hadn't received a single phone call.

This story makes us think of other great moments in quitting a job. Back when the Goldman Sachs executive quit on the pages in The New York Times, we listed "four standout 'take this job and shove it' moments in history."

You think this moment ranks?

Copyright 2012 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

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