After Report, Longtime Orlando Reporter is Fired

FTVLive FIRST told you Friday that WFTV Reporter Kathi Belich was fired from the station.

Belich, who's worked at the Cox owned station for almost a quarter of a century was kicked to the curb after a report on a newly elected state attorney Aramis Ayala.

Ayala report on social media about a story done by Belich, "Last night, WFTV Channel 9 falsely reported that my loving husband David has a gun conviction on his record. This simply is not true. Today, we are demanding that they correct the record and publicly apologize.”

Ayala described the report as "a horrible and false story about my husband." adding, "WFTV has finally aired a correction and an apology. It was heartbreaking to see a loving father, friend and partner hurt by terrible reporting."

It seems that Belich had the right name, but it was the wrong person. It was not the newly elected state attorney Aramis Ayala's husband that was convicted.  

It's not the first time Belich was accused of a false report. Back in 2013, FTVLive reported that the Orlando Police Department said that a report done by Belich is wrong.

The station did not issue a retraction on that story. 

After nearly 25 years at the station, here is the memo that staff got to tell them that Belich was bounced:

From: "Parcell, Matt (CMG-Orlando)" 
Date: September 2, 2016 at 2:06:18 PM EDT
To: "!CMG ORL TV - News Dept (CMG-Orlando)" 
Cc: "!CMG ORL TV - Department Heads (CMG-Orlando)"
Subject: Kathi Belich

Folks,

Kathi Belich is no longer working at WFTV.  Kathi has been a part of our Eyewitness News family for many years and we wish her only the best in the future.
Matt

Matt Parcell | News Director

---