Amy Jacobson

{{Short description|American radio and television broadcaster}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2025}} '''Amy Jacobson''' is a Chicago radio talk show host. She was a reporter for WMAQ-TV in Chicago from 1996 to 2007, losing her job after a rival TV station broadcast a video of her in a bathing suit with her children at the home of a man she was investigating in connection with his wife's disappearance.<ref name="ct-departure">{{cite news |last=Rosenthal |first=Phil |authorlink=Phil Rosenthal |title=Reporter's pool visit results in departure |work=Chicago Tribune |edition=website |date=July 10, 2007 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-070709jacobsonjul09-story.html|access-date=May 28, 2020}}</ref>

== Early life and education == According to Jacobson's WMAQ-TV staff biography in 2007, she is a native of Mt. Prospect, Illinois, graduated from John Hersey High School in 1987, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Iowa with a bachelor's degree in broadcasting and film in 1991. She was the Sigma Chi sweetheart in 1989.<ref name="wmaq-team">{{cite web | url = http://www.nbc5.com/meetthenewsteam/1189091/detail.html | title = Amy Jacobson - Talent Biography | type = non-news content | work = NBC5.com | location = Chicago | publisher = NBC Universal | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070228153620/http://www.nbc5.com/meetthenewsteam/1189091/detail.html | archive-date = February 28, 2007 | url-status = dead | access-date = May 28, 2020}}</ref>

== Early reporting ==

Prior to joining WMAQ-TV, Jacobson worked at WJBK-TV in Detroit, KVIA-TV in El Paso, Texas, KOLD-TV in Tucson, Arizona, and, starting in 1992, KSAX-TV in Alexandria, Minnesota. She started out with an internship at KGAN-TV based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

She became a general assignment reporter at NBC-owned WMAQ-TV in Chicago in 1996. She also occasionally contributed correspondent content for NBC News in regard to Chicago-area stories, having four appearances on ''Today''.<ref name="wmaq-team" />

== Stebic controversy == Jacobson, as part of her job for WMAQ-TV, had been covering the April 2007 disappearance of Lisa Stebic; Stebic went missing on the same day that she asked her lawyer to help evict her husband Craig Stebic from the Stebic home.<ref name="cbs2-leaves">{{cite news |last=Guillen |first=Alita |authorlink=Alita Guillen |title=Reporter Leaves NBC 5 Over Actions In Stebic Story; WMAQ-TV's Amy Jacobson Seen At Stebic's Home With Family |work=WBBM-TV |type=website |publisher=WBBM-TV |location=Chicago |date=July 10, 2007 |url=http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_191075534.html |access-date=July 10, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070711005918/http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_191075534.html |archive-date=July 11, 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="msn-husband">{{cite news | url = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19743438 | title = Police investigating missing woman's husband | first = John | last = Springer | work = Today/MSNBC | type = website | publisher = Microsoft | date = July 13, 2007 | url-status = dead | access-date = May 29, 2020 | archive-date = July 15, 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070715114516/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19743438}}</ref> On Friday, July 6, 2007, Jacobson was recorded on video socializing at the Stebic home.<ref name="cbs2-leaves" /> Jacobson was wearing a bathing suit top and a towel and was at the house with her two sons. Several other people were present including Craig Stebic, who was the last to see his wife, and was following his lawyer's advice to avoid speaking to police, but was in the video talking to Jacobson and Craig Stebic's sister,<ref name="cbs2-leaves" /> who Jacobson later said had invited her to the home to discuss the case with family members.<ref name="cst-fight">{{cite news | url = https://www.pressreader.com/usa/chicago-sun-times/20080708/281612416166863  | title = Jacobson sues Channel 2: 'I have to fight back' | first = Robert | last = Feder | authorlink = Robert Feder | date = July 8, 2008 | work = Chicago Sun-Times | edition = PressReader | access-date = May 28, 2020}}</ref>

The video was in the possession of rival TV station WBBM-TV, but other news outlets, including Jacobson's employer WMAQ-TV, soon found out about the Jacobson footage.<ref name="cbs2-leaves" /> WBBM-TV discussed whether the footage was newsworthy until the evening of July 9, when the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and ''Chicago Tribune'' both ran the story that Jacobson was on tape at a Stebic pool party. Seeing that the print media had already broken the story, WBBM-TV ran two minutes of clips from the video, with commentary from a WBBM-TV reporter, on the July 10 early-morning news.<ref name="ilapp1st">{{cite court |litigants=Jacobson v. CBS Broadcasting, Inc. |vol=2014 |reporter=IL App (1st) |opinion=132480 |pinpoint= |court=Illinois Appellate Court, First District, Sixth Division |date=September 30, 2014 |url=https://courts.illinois.gov/opinions/appellatecourt/2014/1stdistrict/1132480.pdf |access-date=May 28, 2020 |quote=}}</ref>{{rp|4}} WBBM-TV also reported that, since the disappearance, Jacobson had not mentioned any social relationship with the Stebic family in her reporting, but had been seen at the house frequently and without a camera crew.<ref name="cbs2-leaves" /> Jacobson claimed she was trying to cultivate sources: she said she was attempting to get closer access to Craig Stebic;<ref name="msn-husband" /> other sources told the ''Chicago Tribune'' that Jacobson was attempting a rapport with Craig Stebic's sister.<ref name="ct-departure" /> Jacobson's involvement in the case resulted in national coverage<ref name="msn-husband" /> and the end of her employment at WMAQ-TV by the end of July 10.<ref name="ct-departure" /><ref name="cbs2-leaves" /><ref name="msn-husband" /><ref name="ilapp1st" /> Jacobson said that she would not have been fired if she were a man<ref name="msn-husband" /> and that she went instantly from a six-figure income to not being able to find work anywhere.<ref name="cst-fight" /> Both Jacobson and WBBM-TV received negative criticism. WBBM-TV responded by releasing the videotape, unedited except for the children's faces, the day after the original broadcast; Jacobson responded by limiting her interviews to local news outlets rather than national news outlets.<ref name="ilapp1st" />{{rp|5}}

In July 2008, Jacobson filed a multi-million-dollar libel lawsuit in Cook County against WBBM's parent company CBS Corporation, multiple WBBM-TV staff, a Northwestern University professor who spoke about the footage, and a neighbor of the Stebic home.<ref name="cst-fight" /><ref name="ct-tossed" /> The lawsuit claimed that “the videotape was carefully edited in an attempt to create the appearance of an ‘illicit’ relationship" and Jacobson said that there were other mothers with children at the home when the video was shot.<ref name="cst-fight" /> A circuit judge rejected the lawsuit and granted summary judgment in favor of CBS<ref name="ilapp1st" /> in July 2013, saying that the CBS criticism and report was "constitutionally protected expressions of opinion" or based on facts, and that the plaintiff failed to establish that CBS fabricated unfavorable content. Jacobson's attorney said that her legal team "always figured there would be an appeal before this went to trial", and intended to appeal on the basis that Jacobson was not a public figure when the video was released and that an earlier judge in the case had made a different ruling.<ref name="ct-tossed">{{cite news | url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2013-07-05-ct-met-jacobson-lawsuit-tossed-20130705-story.html  | work=Chicago Tribune |edition=website | title=Fired NBC reporter loses bid for libel suit against CBS | date=July 5, 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190920172939/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2013-07-05-ct-met-jacobson-lawsuit-tossed-20130705-story.html  |archive-date=September 20, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> The Illinois Appellate Court, sitting as a three-judge panel, rejected the appeal in December 2014, saying that Jacobson was "[a]lready a well-known local personality and high-profile reporter", that she drew further public spotlight during the period after Lisa Stebic's disappearance, and that her closer involvement with the family "invited scrutiny of her methods".<ref name="ilapp1st" /><ref name="feder-ex">{{cite web | url = https://www.robertfeder.com/2014/12/02/amy-jacobson-loses-appeal-in-cbs-lawsuit/ | title = Ex-reporter Amy Jacobson loses appeal in CBS lawsuit | date = December 2, 2014 | first = Robert | last = Feder | authorlink = Robert Feder | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171108102506/https://www.robertfeder.com/2014/12/02/amy-jacobson-loses-appeal-in-cbs-lawsuit/ | archive-date = November 8, 2017 | url-status = live | access-date = May 28, 2020}}</ref> The appellate court also said that the different ruling in the earlier court, claimed by Jacobson, was not actually the statement made by that court.<ref name="ilapp1st" />{{rp|11}} Jacobson petitioned the Illinois Supreme Court, but was denied leave to appeal on January 28, 2015.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://courts.illinois.gov/SupremeCourt/PLA_Ann/2015/012815.pdf | title = Supreme Court Leave to Appeal Disposition | page = 16 | date = January 28, 2015 | access-date = May 29, 2020}}{{dead link|date=November 2021}}</ref>

The season 18 episode of ''Law & Order'' entitled "Submission," which aired on March 12, 2008, creatively borrowed from events pertaining to the Jacobson story.{{Citation needed|date=August 2021|reason=For verification}}

== Later career == Jacobson made frequent guest appearances on "Livin' Large with Geoff Pinkus" on WIND (AM) and worked as a traffic and news reporter for WLS (AM) from 2008 to 2010, beginning on the ''Roe Conn Show'', and then moving to the Mancow and Cassidy show.{{Citation needed|date=August 2021|reason=For verification}} She became co-host with Big John Howell on WIND.{{Citation needed|date=August 2021|reason=For verification}}

Jacobson cohosted WIND's morning show, Chicago's Morning Answer, with Dan Proft from March 2015 until July 2025 when she separated from WIND.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kaufmann |first1=Justin |title="Chicago's Morning Answer" cuts Amy Jacobson |url=https://www.axios.com/local/chicago/2025/07/02/chicago-morning-answer-cuts-amy-jacobson-dan-proft-wind |website=Axios |date=July 2, 2025 }}</ref> On their August 22, 2024, show, the pair mocked the 17-year old son of Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz for his enthusiastic response to his dad being nominated for vice president of the United States at the 2024 Democratic National Convention. The son has a nonverbal learning disorder that affects one's physical coordination and ability to read social cues.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/08/27/amy-jacobson-amundsen-volleyball-coach/ |title=Parents call for ouster of radio host Amy Jacobson as Amundsen volleyball coach after she mocked Gus Walz |date=August 27, 2024 |work=Chicago Tribune}}</ref> Jacobson and Proft apologized the following morning for their remarks about Walz, admitting they were unaware of his learning disability during the previous day's segment. Parents at Amundsen High School in Chicago, where Jacobson coaches volleyball, called for her immediate dismissal. On August 28, Amundsen principal Kristi Eilers announced via email that Amundsen and Jacobsen had parted ways.<ref>{{Cite web |last=DeVore |first=Molly |date=August 28, 2024 |title=Amy Jacobson Quits Amundsen Coaching Job After Mocking Tim Walz's Son |url=https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/08/28/amy-jacobson-quits-amundsen-coaching-job-after-mocking-tim-walzs-son/ |access-date=August 28, 2024 |website=Block Club Chicago |language=en-US}}</ref>

Jacobson has returned to AM560 on February 2, 2026 as cohost of a midday show titled The Real Story with former gubernatorial candidate Jeanne Ives. The show's tag line targets Illinois policy issues and promises to educate the public by interviewing experts, not pundits.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Staff |first1=BNM |title=Amy Jacobson Returns to AM 560 |url=https://barrettmedia.com/2026/01/29/amy-jacobson-returns-to-am-560-the-answer-alongside-jeanne-ives-for-new-midday-show/ |website=Barrett Media |access-date=January 29, 2026}}</ref>

== Personal ==

Jacobson and her former husband, Jaime Anglada, married in 2002.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://swside.blogspot.com/2007/07/reporters-in-conflicts-tragedy-of-amy.html|title = Reporters in conflicts -- the tragedy of Amy Jacobson|date = July 11, 2007}}</ref> They have two sons. Her husband filed for divorce in September 2008, following the lawsuit filed against WBBM-TV.<ref>{{cite news | last = Hahn | first = Lucinda | authorlink = | title = Tale of the Tape | work = Chicago magazine | edition = web | publisher = Chicago Tribune | date = December 2008 | url = http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/December-2008/Tale-of-the-Tape/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090429065316/http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/December-2008/Tale-of-the-Tape/ | archive-date = April 29, 2009 | access-date = May 29, 2020 }}</ref>{{rp|1}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobson, Amy}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:American television reporters and correspondents Category:University of Iowa alumni Category:People from Mount Prospect, Illinois Category:Radio personalities from Illinois Category:John Hersey High School alumni