Demetria Kalodimos Announces Support To Relaunch ‘The Nashville Banner’

Demetria Kalodimos

Longtime Nashville journalist Demetria Kalodimos is making major donations to help support the challenging commercial media landscape.

Kalodimos says in a statement obtained by MusicRow, “Together with Meredith Corporation, I am pleased to make a significant donation to The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, which will be used by Nashville Public Media, and a separate donation to the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government. Both organizations champion the public good and the bedrock values of quality journalism. I appreciate Meredith Corporation’s willingness to support this important cause.”

This effort joins Steve Cavendish with plans to relaunch Nashville news media brand The Nashville Banner as a non-partisan, nonprofit, civic news organization, with hopes to begin publishing online later in 2020.

Cavendish, a former Editor-in-Chief of the Nashville Scene, will serve as president and editor for the soon-to-be-relaunched The Nashville Banner, with former longtime WSMV news anchor Kalodimos as executive producer, according to its website.

More than a year ago, Cavendish announced his plans to revive The Nashville Banner, which was published from 1876 until 1998, when it closed after being purchased by Gannett, parent company of The Tennessean. The Nashville Banner briefly ran online content in 2014, under the ownership of Bruce Dobie.

According to the official site, The Nashville Banner will be a free (no paywalls) digital service, and will focus on local news, beginning with an emphasis on Metro government, Capitol Hill and state government, education, business and criminal justice, though the goal is to eventually add additional coverage areas.

“Soon, we will announce the online return of a familiar name: the Nashville Banner. This ‘electronic newspaper’ will also offer high-quality video, audio and visual storytelling designed to quench the thirst for meaningful news coverage that is fair, accurate, interesting, thorough, and human.” Kalodimos says.

“Nashville Public Media is an emerging civic news organization that will operate as a nonprofit, offering relevant, intelligent, in-depth coverage of local news and issues of importance to the city,” says Kalodimos. “The contribution will help seed this important and unique new resource in a challenging commercial media landscape.”

She adds, “It remains my wish to offer a significant public platform to talented, experienced reporters and visual storytellers whose voices contribute greatly to our public conversation.”

Kalodimos joined Nashville news station WSMV in 1984, and became one of Nashville’s most well-respected news anchors. After more than 30 years with the organization, Kalodimos and WSMV had an acrimonious parting of ways in 2017. In 2018, she sued WSMV for age discrimination; it was announced in January 2020 that they had settled the suit.

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Jessica Nicholson

Jessica Nicholson serves as the Managing Editor for MusicRow magazine. Her previous music journalism experience includes work with Country Weekly magazine and Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) magazine. She holds a BBA degree in Music Business and Marketing from Belmont University. She welcomes your feedback at jnicholson@musicrow.com.

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