A longtime Alabama Anchor was fired for reporting and erroneous story.

Weekend Anchor/Reporter Karen Church was fired from WBRC, the station she worked for the past 17 years.

Church says she was cannedafter 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.

Lundy was in fact not at the jail, as Church reported in her story.

"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. "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 (WBRC 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.

WBRC management declined to comment on Church's status today.

Responding to an email, WBRC General Manager Collin Gaston said: "We don't comment on matters relating to employees."

Of course they don't.

H/T AL.com