St. Louis Reporter Larry Conners Fired After Facebook Post About IRS Harassment

Veteran KMOV St. Louis anchor/reporter Larry Conners was fired yesterday amidst a growing controversy over a Facebook posting about his troubles with the IRS.

On May 14, Conners commented on social media about an April 2012 incident in which he posed tough questions to a visibly annoyed President Obama.

Given the revelations about IRS targeting of Tea Party and other groups for heavy scrutiny, Conners took to Facebook with the following: “I don’t accept ‘conspiracy theories,’ but I do know that almost immediately after the interview, the IRS started hammering me. At the time, I dismissed the ‘co-incidence,’ but now, I have concerns … after revelations about the IRS targeting various groups and their members …” In the same posting, Conners admitted that he had no proof that he was targeted.

Larry Conners, 66, has been reporting on television in St. Louis since 1976, mostly with KMOV.

The Facebook posting attracted a lot of attention, and Conners seemed to be backpedaling in comments delivered on the air the following day:

“As you may have heard, I commented on my Facebook page yesterday that there might be a connection between my interview in April 2012 with President Obama and pressure I believed I received recently from the Internal Revenue Service. First I need to state that those were my personal views, not those of KMOV-TV. Second to be fair, I should disclose that my issues with the IRS preceded that interview by several years. As a journalist I understand the importance of keeping personal matters separate from my professional work; sometimes you have to do that to retain your independence as a news man. Those lines might have been unintentionally crossed yesterday by my post.”

That was apparently Conners’ last on-air appearance with KMOV however.

Moreover, the mea culpa apparently was insufficient to satisfy management who fired Conners yesterday. In a statement, the general manager said in part, “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.”

After he was ousted, Conners claimed in various news accounts that he read the follow-up statement (embedded above) under duress to some degree. As far as his tax issues that pre-dated the Obama interview, Conners explained that he was on a monthly payment plan with the IRS over some disputed deductions and that the plan was canceled after his interaction with the president.

In another interview, Conners also alluded to some health issues that he encountered this spring and that he allegedly was not reinstated to his 10 pm anchor slot when he went back to work. The fired reporter, who has retained an attorney, could possibly be laying the groundwork for a Family and Medical Leave Act and/or age discrimination claim.

Conners’ new Twitter profile describes himself as “50 years in broadcasting / Texan, Marine, gun owner, pilot, Harley Rider, poker player and these views are my 1st Amendment Rights.”

Do you think Larry Conners should have been sent packing after commenting about the IRS on Facebook?