Alex Kerkhove said WTWO told her on June 8 that it would be her last day, then had HR escort her from the building after an early-morning meeting. She said managers pressed her to describe the exit as a resignation, even though she says she had not quit.
That account has drawn attention because Kerkhove, a fired Indiana meteorologist, was only at WTWO in Terre Haute for a short time after graduating from Purdue University. In June, she posted on Facebook that management did not see a future for her at the Nexstar-owned station, and she later described a series of limits she says were placed on her work and on her conversations with Jesse Walker.
Walker was the veteran chief meteorologist at WTWO and was 60. Employees told FTVLive that he took an unusually keen interest in Kerkhove before she joined the station, that the two chatted regularly before she was hired, and that their relationship became unusually close. One station insider said Kerkhove was attached to Jesse at the hip when she was not doing weather. Another source said she came into the station when she was not scheduled to work, went to dinner with Walker on her days off, and often accompanied him on outside shoots.
Kerkhove has said something different was happening inside the station. She said managers told her she could speak with Walker for only 15 to 20 minutes while they were working because they watch the security camera. She also said she was barred from posting on WTWO's Facebook page about events or festivals she attended on her days off with station employees, was moved away from on-air weather duties shortly after being hired, and was limited to four hours of work during a severe-weather outbreak even after volunteering to help.
The clash between those accounts is what makes the story hard to leave alone. Employees described a relationship that looked too close for a newsroom, while Kerkhove says management was tracking her, cutting off contact, and shutting down the parts of the job she says she was hired to do. She also said the station deleted her professional Facebook account, later rejected all of her requests for changes, and intended to advertise her position even though she had not resigned.
Kerkhove said the pressure escalated after managers learned she had received a contingent job offer elsewhere. She said they asked what they could do to persuade her to stay and requested that she put her concerns in writing, only for the June 8 meeting to end with her being walked out by HR. What remains unanswered is why WTWO decided to end her employment then, and whether the station or Nexstar will offer any public explanation for the decision.
