KMOV: Larry Conners No Longer With Station

Larry Conners, the longtime reporter and anchor for KMOV-Channel 4, is no longer with the station. KMOV released a statement about the Clayton resident's departure from the station at 3:38 p.m. today.

Conners met with station bosses on Monday to discuss his future with the station after he was taken off the air last week. 

The situation arose May 13 with a post from Conners on his Facebook page. In the posting, Conners said he faced pressure from the IRS after an interview with President Barack Obama. This after allegations surfaced that the IRS targeted conservative groups. 

See our previous story: IRS Posting Has Clayton's Larry Conners Off KMOV Air

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported last week that while Conners' Facebook post made it seem that he was targeted after the 2012 interview, the Clayton resident's issues with the IRS began long before that. 

Records show that a federal tax lien has been placed on Conners’ property in Clayton, according to the Post story. That lien claims that Conners and his wife, Janet L. Conners, owe more than $85,000 in “small business/self employed” taxes.

Quoting todays's KMOV statement:

We regret to announce that Larry Conners is no longer a KMOV news reporter. Larry was a valued member of KMOV for a long time, and we will miss him.

For KMOV, there is no higher cause than unbiased, objective news reporting. It is what our viewers expect and it is what we work very hard to deliver. We can accept no less. Larry is certainly entitled to his opinion, but taking a personal political position on one of the Station’s Facebook pages creates an appearance of bias that is inconsistent with important journalistic standards. Larry’s departure has nothing to do with the particular position he took, but it does have to do with our belief that his actions made it impossible for him to report for KMOV on certain political matters going forward without at least an appearance of bias. Bringing you accurate and unbiased reporting is the reason we exist.

Mark Pimentel
KMOV TV President & GM

Conservative radio talk show host Dana Loesch tweeted a statement saying that Conners would be a guest on her program Wednesday to discuss the situation. 

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