Karen Church Fox 6.JPG

Karen Church worked at Fox 6/WBRC-TV in Birmingham, Ala., for 17 years. She had been a reporter and weekend news anchor, but she was dismissed from the station on Dec. 16, 2015. (Fox 6 photo)

Birmingham TV newscaster Karen Church is no longer employed at Fox 6/WBRC-TV, where she had been a reporter and weekend news anchor for the past 17 years.

Church told AL.com this morning that station management fired her Wednesday, Dec. 16, after she erroneously reported that Birmingham City Councilman Marcus Lundy had turned himself in to the Birmingham City Jail following an altercation with Birmingham Mayor William Bell the day before. Lundy was not at the jail, as Church reported.

"I decided I would go to the jail to see if Marcus had turned himself in because there had been a warrant for his arrest," Church said today. "So I was talking to a bail bondsman and two people that he was with, and I said, 'You're here to get Marcus Lundy out?' And they said, 'Yes.' And I said, 'Marcus Lundy, like the councilman?' And they said, 'Yes.' Well, I guess, they didn't hear the Lundy part because it was a different Marcus."

Church said she realized her mistake about an hour later when a police captain at the jail told her Lundy was not there.

"I immediately went into, 'OK, well, let's see how I can fix this,'" she said. "And then they (Fox 6 management) later pulled me off the story, and I totally understand.

"That was an error, but it was one error in 17 years and it was a big one. But it wasn't because I wasn't doing my job. I asked the right questions. I didn't get the right answers, at least the accurate answers."

Church said she was called into a meeting at the station that afternoon, told that her mistake was "unacceptable" and informed that she was fired.

Fox 6 management declined to comment on Church's status today.

Responding to an email from AL.com this morning, Fox 6 General Manager Collin Gaston said: "We don't comment on matters relating to employees."

Church also said that Fox 6 News Director James Finch had told her in September that she would not be retained when her contract came up for renewal in March 2016.

"As far as they were concerned, nothing I did was going to be good enough because they wanted to replace me for a variety of reasons," she said.

"And the sad part for me is, when I started in the late '70s, I was the only female in the first and the third newsrooms I worked in. I put up with a lot. . . . I paved the way for people who are now becoming my replacements, which I don't appreciate."

Monday night, Church posted on her Facebook timeline that she was told by Fox 6 management that "nobody would miss me" and urged "the hundreds of you who've asked" to call the station on her behalf.

SI just to clarify for the hundreds of you who've asked, Call 583 4333 and tell them you want to speak to James finch and Collin gaston, the guys who said, 'nobody would miss me.' Posted by Karen Church on Monday, December 21, 2015

Referencing comedian Steve Harvey's Miss Universe gaffe, Church earlier alluded to her mistake, writing: "So how would you feel if you made a mistake on air like Steve Harvey? I guarantee everyone on air has made more than one."

So how would you feel if you made a mistake on air like Steve Harvey? I guarantee everyone on air has made more than... Posted by Karen Church on Monday, December 21, 2015

Meanwhile, many of Church's fans went on her Facebook page to voice their displeasure with Fox 6 for letting her go, and they shared a photograph of her with the headline, "You Will Be Missed Karen Church."

A native of Denver, Church grew up in Los Angeles and worked as a news anchor at TV stations in Houston, Charlotte and Kansas City before coming to Birmingham.

At Fox 6, Church had been a big supporter of the Greater Birmingham Humane Society and other such animal advocacy charities and causes. Church, who has four adopted dogs, has encouraged people who are looking for pets to adopt from humane societies or animal rescue groups.

UPDATED at 12:07 p.m. CST Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2015, to add comments from Karen Church and to add response from Fox 6 General Manager Collin Gaston.