In a statement on the station’s web site, president and general manager Mark Pimentel announced that long-time anchor Larry Conners is no longer a part of the KMOV-TV news team.
The statement reads as follows:
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.
The action comes after a series of events that began last week when Conners alleged he was targeted by the Internal Revenue Service after interviewing President Barack Obama in April of 2012 by way of a Facebook post.
In that post — which was removed from Conners’ page recently — Conners said he had been getting “pressure” from the IRS after he interviewed the president last year.
A day later, Conners backed away from the claim and conceded his issues with the IRS began in 2008. The IRS claims Conners owes more than $85,000 in taxes.
Conners, 66, spent almost 35 years in St. Louis television — the last 27 as an anchor at KMOV.
Information from KMOV.com contributed to this report.