If the reaction to WSMV's decision to force Demetria Kalodimos off the air after more than three decades at the anchor desk wasn't unanimous, it certainly seemed like it.
It did not go over well.
The public outpouring was immense and included statements of support from Kalodimos' former colleagues and even supportive gestures from anchors at other networks. Notice who retweeted this, for example:
WSMV investigative reporter Jeremy Finley voiced his support for Kalodimos in a Facebook post.
"Working alongside her in our investigative unit and on the anchor desk was a badge of honor," he wrote. "No one needs to prove her merit or her worth. Thirty-three years of stories reveal that."
The Poynter Institute's Al Tompkins, a WSMV alum, ticked off a number of Kalodimos' accomplishments and notable stories in a post of his own.
The news that Kalodimos was out at WSMV, and her confirmation that her tenure was ending bitterly, prompted a response from readers the likes of which we've rarely seen. The Scene's Facebook post linking to the news has been shared more than 600 times and has attracted hundreds of comments from livid viewers. Want confirmation that Demetria Kalodimos was a local institution? Our story about her ouster hadn't been live for eight hours before it received more unique page views than any individual Pith in the Wind post in all of 2017. (Here's a tidbit: Our two most-read Pith posts from Jan. 1, 2017, to Jan. 1, 2018, were this one on Kalodimos' exit from WSMV and this one on WSMV laying off Snowbird. Great work, WSMV.)
On Twitter, our mentions filled up with people outraged over the news, some of them vowing to stop tuning their televisions to Channel 4. And there were some pretty good jokes too.
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The best social media response came from Kalodimos herself, who posted her second tweet ever without a word. Simply an old photo of her with her late co-anchor Dan Miller.
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