In Chicago, Amy Jacobson is known as one-half of Chicago’s Morning Answer, the local political news and talk program heard from 5am-9am Central on WIND-AM 560.
Jacobson recently gained national attention for being barred from press briefings conducted by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
Now, Jacobson and WIND owner Salem Media Group have filed a federal lawsuit against Pritzker for his decision, allegedly prompted by Jacobson’s reporting of his family’s travel out-of-stay as a shelter-in-place order was in effect for all of the Land of Lincoln.
The lawsuit, Salem Media of Illinois, LLC v. Pritzker, was filed today in the Northern District of Illinois. Attorneys also are asking the court to take immediate action to allow Jacobson back into the press briefings. The lawsuit was filed by attorneys from the non-profit Liberty Justice Center, a public interest law firm that won the 2018 Supreme Court case Janus v. AFSCME, Salem said in a statement released Monday (6/1).
As Salem sees it, Jacobson on May 15 broke the story that Pritzker and his family had traveled to their equestrian estate in Wisconsin as Illinois’s stay-at-home order remained in effect. This transpired “weeks after” it was reported that the Pritzker family, known for its founding of the Hyatt hotel brand, was at another estate in Florida.
The news raised questions about why the stay-at-home order did not apply to the governor’s family; a similar controversy erupted in London a week later, when a top aide to Prime Minister Boris Johnson traveled 260 miles by car as a quarantine order was still in effect.
On May 18, the day of the governor’s next press briefing, Pritzker’s press secretary told Jacobson she was not permitted from attending the briefings.
As the Illinois state government sees it, the reason has nothing to do with the Pritzker family’s Wisconsin sojourn. Rather, she was prohibited from attending the briefing because she breached her objectivity as a news reporter by attending a rally advocating for Illinois to end its lockdown.
As noted in the May 18 email to Jacobson from Pritzker’s Press Secretary, Jordan Abudayyeh, the rally Jacobson spoke at was designed to fire up attendees opposing the governor’s policies to fight COVID-19. Jacobson has been outspoken for “draconian” measures taken in Chicago and in Illinois to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.
What she likely did not expect was the attendance of neo-Nazis at the rally, something noted by Abudayyeh. While this is in no way reflective of Jacobson’s beliefs, her participation as a speaker stripped Jacobson of being an impartial journalist. As such, her ability to cover Pritzker’s press briefings was gone.
Indeed, when questioned by reporters about Jacobson’s exclusion the next day, Pritzker told the press corps that Jacobson could not attend because advocating for Illinois to end its stay-at-home order represents an “extreme position.”
Salem claims Pritzker then discredited Jacobson, stating, “That is not a reporter … once upon a time she was a reporter but she proved that she is no longer a reporter.”
Liberty Justice Center President and co-founder Patrick Hughes calls it a squelching of the Free Press. “It’s not up to Gov. Pritzker to pick and choose which reporters can cover him based on how much he agrees with their coverage or their points of view,” Hughes said. “Keeping reporters out of the room because he disagrees with their line of questioning or point of view is a gross violation of the First Amendment.”
Jacobson has been associated with WIND for a decade and from 2008-2010 was a news and traffic reporter for WLS-AM 890 in Chicago.
The Pritzker flap isn’t the first time Jacobson has gained attention for questionable reporting and a breach of journalistic ethics. In April 2007, Jacobson found herself embroiled in a matter involving the disappearance of Lisa Stebic. It was not disclosed that she had a personal relationship with the Stebic family, as she reported on the disappearance for WMAQ-5. Footage found its way to rival WBBM-2 and aired, resulting in Jacobson’s firing from WMAQ-5. Jacobson in 2008 filed a multi-million dollar libel lawsuit against WBBM owner CBS Corporation, but was unsuccessful in reaching a decision in her favor.
Today, Jacobson is seen by her boss, WIND Regional VP/GM Jeff Reisman as “a dogged reporter with a reputation for holding public officials accountable.” It is why she was sent to the governor’s press briefings.
“Over the last two months Amy has done her job well, asking the tough questions that are on the minds of so many of our listeners,” Reisman added. “We’re disappointed that the governor would retaliate against her and take the unprecedented step of blocking her from his press briefings. We had hoped litigation would not be necessary, but it’s imperative for Amy to get back into the room and keep doing her job.”
The lawsuit, Salem Media of Illinois, LLC v. Pritzker was filed June 1 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. A copy of the case is available here: https://libertyjusticecenter.org/media/salem-v-pritzker
