Posted by chicagomedia.org on July 07, 2008 at 21:45:12:
Amy Jacobson sues CBS 2 for airing bikini video
One year after a secretly recorded videotape of her in a bikini derailed her career as a Chicago television news reporter, Amy Jacobson is fighting back.
On Monday, Jacobson filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2 for airing the tape of her at the home of Craig Stebic, the southwest suburban Plainfield man whose estranged wife, Lisa, has been missing since April 2007.
The tape of her at Stebic's backyard pool led to her termination after 11 years as a reporter for NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5.
In the year since she was fired, Jacobson said she has been unable to find work in or out of the market because of the way she was depicted in Channel 2's story. She was even turned down for a job outside of broadcasting.
The loss of her six-figure income forced her and her husband to sell their North Side home and move with their two children into a cramped, two-bedroom apartment across the street.
Jacobson, 38, said she waited until the last possible day to file the suit in hopes that she would be able to land a job. Her right to sue would have lapsed after a year.
"There was a lot of tears over this decision, but I have to fight back," Jacobson said. "I can't let everything I've worked for be destroyed."
The suit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court by attorney Kathleen Zellner, claims defamation, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other counts.
In addition to CBS, it names Channel 2's president and general manager, Joe Ahern, the station's vice president and news director Carol Fowler, reporter Mike Puccinelli and anchor Rob Johnson. It also names Michele Weldon, a Northwestern University journalism assistant professor who was interviewed for the station's original story about Jacobson, and Tracy Reardon, Stebic's next-door neighbor from whose bedroom window the hidden-camera video was shot.
A spokeswoman for CBS had no comment on the suit.
Jacobson's ordeal made worldwide headlines after Channel 2 posted video of her wearing a towel and a two-piece swimsuit at Stebic's house. It was juxtaposed with video of a shirtless Stebic.
The reporter said she was on her way to go swimming at a health club with her children on her day off when Stebic's sister called to invite her to discuss the case with family members at Stebic's home. She said she drove there with her kids, who went swimming with other mothers and children who were also present.
"The videotape was carefully edited in an attempt to create the appearance of an 'illicit' relationship," the suit claims.
(Feder)