Larry Conners: After KMOV-TV Firing, Former Anchor's Lawyers Consider Lawsuit

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via kmov.com
Larry Conners.
Attorneys for fired news anchor Larry Conners are considering taking legal action against KMOV-TV, which announced this week that it was terminating the veteran newsman over his controversial comments about the IRS.

"It is possible that we may institute legal action relating to the termination of Mr. Conners' employment," his attorney Merle Silverstein writes in a letter to KMOV president Mark Pimentel. "We therefore request that you carefully preserve and not destroy any and all papers, records, and documents relating to Mr. Conners' employment and termination..."

Silverstein tells Daily RFT this morning that he is considering potential legal action, which could involve a complaint with the Missouri Human Rights Commission. His full letter is on view below.

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Larry Conners Talks KMOV-TV Firing, Defends IRS Facebook Post, Journalistic Integrity

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Larry Conners.
Yesterday, KMOV-TV (Channel 4) fired veteran news anchor Larry Conners, one week after he wrote a controversial Facebook post pondering whether the IRS had targeted him in response to a tough interview he did with President Obama in 2012.

In the announcement of his termination, KMOV said he violated the station's journalistic standards by "taking a personal political position."

Conners, in an interview with Daily RFT this morning, argues that he did not take any personal position, but simply raised a question. Further, he says, his bosses have made him look like a criminal in their handling of this controversy.

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Cardinals: Sports Illustrated Cover Draws On 1968 Lou Brock, Roger Maris, Bob Gibson Photo

Categories: Cardinals, Media

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via Facebook / SI
Calling all of the Best Fans In Baseball! Take a break from your intense soccer bashing, avert your eyes from the permanent destruction at Busch Stadium for some stupid exhibition game and looky here!

Cardinal Nation has got some intense loving on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week.

"Injuries? Superstar Free-Agent Losses? Nothing slows baseball's model organization... Past, Present and Future."

It's THE CARDINAL WAY.

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Larry Conners Out At KMOV-TV, President Cites Importance of "Journalistic Standards"

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via
Larry Conners.
Update below: Larry Conners is out at KMOV-TV (Channel 4).

So says Mark Pimentel, KMOV's president and general manager, in an announcement on the station's website published this afternoon. The news comes just one week after Conners made controversial comments on his Facebook page speculating whether the IRS had unfairly targeted him after he did a tough interview with the president in 2012. Later that day, he disclosed on air that his issues with the IRS predated the Obama interview -- by several years.

A few days later the station said he was "temporarily" off air -- and now, it seems, he'll be parting ways with KMOV for good.

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KMOV's Larry Conners Off Air After IRS Comments, Lawyer Says Not Allowed To Talk

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via
Larry Conners.
On Tuesday we reported on KMOV-TV (Channel 4) anchor Larry Conners' controversial comments on his Facebook page pondering whether the IRS was targeting him in response to a critical interview he did with President Obama. Later that night -- after getting national attention for his comments -- he issued a short on-air statement admitting that he had issues with the IRS for several years prior to the Obama interview and saying his views were his own.

Now he is temporarily off the air. KMOV officials and Conners' attorney say it's not a suspension.

"He's dying to talk to everybody," Conners' attorney Merle Silverstein tells Daily RFT, "but until he gets released from this order of the station, he is barred from making any comment."

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Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! RFT Seeks Editorial Assistant

Categories: Media

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Riverfront Times is seeking applications for an Editorial Assistant to keep our Editorial Department running smoothly.

Candidates should:
- Be detail-minded.
- Possess excellent communications and writing skills.
- Possess a knack for organizing and following through on complex projects.
- Be gifted with a preternatural knack to maintain a Zen-like calm under pressure.

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Suburban Journals: Two Print Editions Fold, 20 Layoffs, "Just Really Sad," Says Former Writer

Categories: Media

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via
The Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis, the local newspapers owned by the same company as the Post-Dispatch and published online at stltoday.com are undergoing a major transition that involves shuttering two print editions and laying off twenty employees.

The official announcement from parent company Lee Enterprises calls this a streamlining initiative to focus efforts online, and says the communities where the papers were published will still be covered at stltoday.com. One laid-off journalist -- who got the call Saturday morning -- tells Daily RFT that the former staffers are not convinced.

"This doesn't just hurt the people that are laid off. It affects the communities that were being covered by these newspapers," the now unemployed writer, who wished to remain anonymous, tells us.

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KMOV-TV's Larry Conners Says IRS May Have Been Targeting Him For Years (UPDATE)

Categories: Media, News

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via Twitter
Larry Conners.
Yesterday, KMOV-TV (Channel 4)'s Larry Conners made quite a splash when he speculated on his Facebook page whether the Internal Revenue Service may have targeted him in response to his interview with Barack Obama last year. Our original coverage is below. Since his post got national attention, Conners went on air to address the controversy -- and offer a pretty surprising disclosure.

His issues with the IRS, he announced, "preceded that interview by several years."

And, he emphasized, his views are his own, not that of his company.

Watch his full statement below.

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Riverfront Times Finalist for Five Awards from National Association of Black Journalists

Categories: Media

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The National Association of Black Journalists has named five feature stories published last year in Riverfront Times as finalists for its 2013 "Salute to Excellence Awards."

The stories are:
- Code Dead, freelance writer Christopher Tritto's examination into the encrypted note left on a dead man's body in St. Louis that has stumped the FBI's foremost code-breakers.

- Daddy Do-Over, former staff writer Nicholas Phillips' feature story on the Fathers' Support Center of St. Louis that provides a bootcamp for estranged fathers.


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Parkway Students Caught With Marijuana; KTVI Explores the Dangers of Pot Brownies (VIDEO)

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via KTVI
This guy knows the dangers of weed.
"It's a high that won't result in higher achievement."

So says KTVI (Channel 2) which has an earnest, in-depth, punny report on the dangers of marijuana -- after two Parkway West High School students allegedly brought pot brownies to school where they intended to hand them out.

From a marijuana advocate in sunglasses to the insight of stoner-looking teens skateboarding in the Loop, the news report has everything you'd want from a local television dispatch on pot. Video below.

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