The Amy Jacobson "I'm sorry" tour

Fired NBC 5 Chicago reporter Amy Jacobson has popping up in the local media in a pentitent manner as she tries to explain herself out of the Craig Stebic pool party fiasco.

She spoke with Don Feder of the Chicago Sun-Times on Monday. Since then she's been interviewed by Steve Cochran of WGN Radio, and Terry Armour on FM talker WCKG.

While she admits her pool party venture to the Stebic home in far-southwest suburban Plainfield was "a horrible mistake" and "lapse in judgement," she's astonished that her employer, the NBC owned-and-operated WMAQ-TV, chose to fire her and not just suspend her and bring her back once the uproar died down.

The Chicago Tribune's Eric Zorn, who outside of politics and baseball I generally agree with, wrote in his blog on Wendesday:

But she added (in the WGN interview), "My heart was in the right place. I was trying to work and get ahead on the story."

And none of the details she or anyone else has added as this debate rages has persuaded me otherwise.

When your heart is in the right place and you make an honest mistake that hurts no one, you deserve to have the benefit of the doubt along with your regrets.

You do not deserve to lose your job.

Back to Don Feder's article mentioned earlier. This cryptic paragraph might, I repeat, might, explain NBC 5's decision:

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.

No one should be fired for rumors and innuendo, but Don Feder is a cautious reporter and almost certainly didn't write what he did unless he had a good reason to do so.

Related posts:

More Amy Jacobson

Amy Jacobson now a former NBC 5 Chicago reporter

NBC 5 Chicago reporter caught in bikini at Craig Stebic's pool party

Technorati tags: Chicago mainstream media journalists Lisa Stebic crime ethics NBC Chicago Tribune eric zorn Chicago Sun-Times