The Video That Got Amy Fired: Her Side Of The Story

Although she acknowledged a “lapse in judgment” for going swimming with the estranged husband of a missing Plainfield woman, Amy Jacobson never imagined it would destroy her career as a reporter for WMAQ-Channel 5.

“I’m crushed. I can’t lie to you. I’m devastated,” she said in her first interview, just hours after she was fired by the NBC-owned station Tuesday.

“I thought they would suspend me and then support me. I can’t believe they did this after all I’d done for them. They know why I was there. There was never any challenge as to my motivation or intent,” she said.

Larry Wert, president and general manager of Channel 5, declined to discuss why Jacobson was out, calling the matter “a complicated issue” and “a close, tough call.” He praised her work as “a valued member of the team for more than 10 years.”
Terms of her separation agreement are still being negotiated.

What Wert didn’t say was that Jacobson had crossed a line in journalistic ethics, appearing to get too close to a source and potentially compromising her professional objectivity. And all of it was captured on videotape by a rival television station.

Jacobson was pulled off covering the story and subsequently fired for her appearance Friday at the home of Craig Stebic, whose estranged wife, Lisa Stebic, has been missing since April 30. The couple, who have two children, were in the midst of a divorce.

Jacobson said she was called on her day off by Craig Stebic’s sister, Jill, who invited her to the southwest suburban Plainfield home to discuss the case. Jacobson said she was on her way to go swimming at the East Bank Club with her two sons, ages 3 and 2, so she took them to Stebic’s house instead.

“My kids were in the car with me,” Jacobson said. “It was a way for me to do my work and have fun with my kids. I never get to see them. I’m always working.” So they all went swimming there, along with several other mothers and children.

What Jacobson wasn’t counting on was a photographer videotaping her for CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2.

“If a tape didn’t exist, I know I would still have my job,” Jacobson said. “The video they used was not indicative of the situation. They never showed Craig’s sister or all the other kids who were there.

“I never would have gone there by myself if he [Craig Stebic] were there alone. He had never done anything inappropriate or made any sort of advance to me. Hell, no. And I certainly wouldn’t have brought my children there if there weren’t other kids around too.”

Jacobson’s contract was set to expire in November, but Channel 5 management already had begun preliminary discussions with her on a long-term renewal.

Now unemployed, she said, “I’m looking forward to working again in this town.”

Throughout her 11 years at the station, Jacobson has been known as an aggressive reporter who ingratiates herself with sources and sometimes employs questionable methods to get stories. Though she was a lightning rod for rumors, her bosses generally looked the other way and praised her for bringing them the scoops.

What forced Channel 5’s hand this time was the existence of the videotape, showing Jacobson clad in a two-piece swimsuit and towel near Stebic’s pool. It was also edited to show a bare-chested Stebic putting on a shirt.

After withholding the video for four days, Channel 2 finally aired it on its newscasts Tuesday morning — after reports about it appeared in the Sun-Times and Tribune. Channel 2 later posted the entire six-minute video on its Web site.

Carol Fowler, vice president of news at Channel 2, wouldn’t say who shot the video or how it came into the station’s possession. Within the first 12 hours it was on Channel 2’s Web site, the video racked up more than 200,000 views, making it the station’s third most-viewed video of the year.

“This is a tape that fell into our lap,” she said. “It was certainly provocative, but I wasn’t sure we were going to do anything with it. A lot of questions had to be asked before we put it on the air. . . . We didn’t see much compelling reason [to air it] because it wasn’t germane to anything in the case.”

Competitive as Chicago television stations are, they rarely report on each other, according to the unwritten rules of engagement. More often they let newspaper columnists do the dirty work for them.

Once existence of the tape became public knowledge, however, Channel 2 chose to air what Fowler called “relevant excerpts.”

Jacobson freely admits she did not handle the situation properly.

“I know I made a lapse in judgment. I know it and I apologize for it. But I’m a competitive person and I did it to advance the story. I learned some things about the case that were pretty interesting that I never got to report.

“The competitive pressure is unbelievable.”

– By Robert Feder

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Wondering about the embedded reporters in Iraq. What about their professional objectivity? Or the White House press corps. They don’t meet in a place that the public can attend. It’s not like meeting in a restaurant, coffee shop or parking garage. I think it’s a crooked line they draw by the powers that be. Most times you don’t know you’ve crossed that line until they tell you.