Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Amy Jacobson's credibility sinks and "Who are the real journalists?"

William Kelly, who was a Republican candidate for state comptroller, now has a Saturday night show on WIND-AM. Also on WIND is Amy Jacobson, who along with "Big John" Howell, hosts the station's morning drive program.

Jacobson doesn't think Kelly is a "real journalist"--but it was Kelly who was asking the tough questions of Rahm Emanuel at Chicago's Columbus Day parade last week--not the mainstream media reporters such as ABC 7's Charles Thomas and CBS 2's Jay Levine.

See for yourself:



Emanuel was at a public parade on a public street. He is a public figure running for public office. Kelly is a reporter, despite Thomas' claim to the contrary. I'm a reporter too, by the way.

Back to Jacobson:  Warner Todd Huston (a damn good reporter, by the way) listened to Jacobson criticize Kelly on her show. Here's his reaction:
In her anger that someone other than she and her approved pals had the temerity to ask a question of a politician, Jacobson claimed that Kelly was not a "real" journalist. But as, on one hand, she kept saying that Kelly is "not a journalist," she kept saying he was practicing "ambush journalism" on the other. How Jacobson can keep saying he isn’t a "journalist" yet is "practicing" a form of journalism… well, who knows what logic that makes?
Jacobson was a reporter for NBC 5 Chicago who was fired in 2007 after it was discovered she was a guest at a pool party--wearing a bikini--at the Plainfield home of Craig Stebic. He remains a person of interest in the disappearance of his wife--Jacobson was covering that story. Three years later, Lisa Stebic is still missing.

Now Jacobson obviously made horrible error in judgement and NBC 5 made the correct decision to fire her, but that does not mean she should be blackballed from journalism. We are a forgiving society--and that's how it should be.

But Amy: You are wrong about Kelly. And you are the wrong person to deliver the wrong message.

As for Jay Levine, I have a soft spot for him. Not only did he interview me last year in my living room for a story about trade shows, he and his wife, Mary Ann Childers, a CBS 2 Chicago anchor until 2008, had dinner at a downtown restaurant where my wife was a server. They left her a 100 percent tip.

Two days ago I tried to ask a question of Rep. Jan Schakowsky about the funding of a group she supports, J Street, an anti-Israel organization, by billionaire radical George Soros. She ignored me. Will the mainstream media ask her that question? Or about the constitutionality of ObamaCare?

Who are the "real journalists?"

Related posts:

Rahm on listening tour: Not talking to reporters, getting ignored by commuters

Video: Schakowsky refuses to answer questions about Soros, constitutionality of ObamaCare

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