Mike Valentine of Belo Corp, the parent company of CBS affiliate KMOV Channel 4 in St. Louis, downplayed the significance of the IRS targeting reporters today by throwing one of their own under the bus. In a statement released to media, Valentine said:

Any issue he has with the IRS are personal issues. They have nothing to do with our television station KMOV or him as a journalist. As a news anchor, he owes a duty to our viewers to report in an unbiased manner. His Facebook post and his Twitter posts, as a result, were inappropriate. And we don’t condone personal posts that jeopardize the journalistic nature of our business. It’s really that simple […] What he wrote has nothing to do with our company or our television station,” Valentine said. “And we don’t condone that type of personal opinion being represented as a company or station opinion.

When the IRS is actively targeting reporters for unbiased coverage of the Obama administration, wondering on your Facebook page whether or not the increased IRS intensity towards your situation is related. Why on earth Belo Corp. and KMOV chose to make this a bigger issue by freaking out over it is beyond me. It now seems fitting to ask whether or not the quality of KMOV’s coverage will be diminished as it seems the brass wants to suppress stories if it involves their own reporters.

Ask Belo Corp. why they’re working so hard over this by contacting them here.

Interesting to note: A former Belo Corp director, a Democrat left to work with the Obama admin:

Newspaper publisher A. H. Belo Corporation (NYSE: AHC) announced thatLouis E. Caldera, a director of Belo Corp. from 2000-2008 and A. H. Belo since February 2008, has resigned from the Board of Directors effective today as a result of his appointment by President-elect Barack Obama as Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Military Office.

During his time with the Obama admin, Caldera landed in hot water for ordering a mission that called for flying a Boeing 747 terrifyingly close to the Manhattan skyline and causes mass panic.