Perhaps you have read about the Chicago TV reporter who shifted from covering the news to becoming the news. WMAQ-TV reporter Amy Jacobson was caught on video in a swimsuit at the home of a man whose wife disappeared two months ago (and it was a story she was assigned to cover). Jacobson (no longer at the station), who had been described by staffers as having “hustle and passion for news,” was assigned to cover the disappearance of Craig Stebic’s wife, Lisa. Lisa still lived with her husband while the two went through a divorce. The mother of two disappeared April 30.

Apparently, Jacobson was on her way with her kids to go swimming at a local club when Craig Stebic’s sister asked her over to his house to talk about the case during a pool party.

Now, a reporter in a swimsuit at a possible/potential suspect’s pool party sounds like a lack of judgment to me. What’s more, it has been reported that Jacobson, without telling her bosses, had been briefing police on her conversations with Stebic, who has since been named a “person of interest” in his wife’s case.Add Mirthala Salinas to the “reporters getting too close to sources” file. The L.A.-based Telemundo anchor and reporter had been having an affair with the city’s mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa.
Salinas, who had covered the mayor and the political beat, actually read a story on-air announcing the mayor’s break-up with his wife (leaving out some key facts).

Both of these stories really blur the lines between reporter and source, journalist and objectivity. If the reporter’s role is to report the news (rather than influence or BECOME the news), then some distance needs to be maintained. As a former reporter, I remember covering several homicide and missing persons cases. Sometimes gaining that edge/competitive advantage isn’t worth putting yourself in a dangerous situation… or one that will ultimately disrupt the investigation… or ruin your credibility as a reporter.

Another question I had: Why would a man whose wife has recently disappeared be throwing a big pool party?

Amy Jacobson, Antonio Villaraigosa, Broadcast Journalism, Craig Stebic, journalistic ethics, Lisa Stebic, Mirthala Salinas, Telemundo, TV reporters

She has been admired, mocked, embroiled in scandal, and even featured in a documentary… Tammy Faye Messner. 

When I read about her passing today, I began to think about the concept of celebrity – especially as it relates to the broadcast realm.  

I had watched her final appearance on “Larry King Live” on Thursday and even at 65 pounds, unable to eat and facing death, she was smiling, joking and, of course, wearing her trademark piled-on make-up and thick eyelashes.

 When I was a child, I remember my mom would sometimes flip the channel for a few moments to the Christian PTL Network. Even though we were not particularly religious (as far as watching televangelists goes), my mom said she found this woman oddly fascinating… the way she would laugh one moment, sing another moment, then burst into tears a fraction of a second later, mascara running down her face. 

Since the late 1980s when Jim and Tammy Bakker’s PTL reign ended and Jim Bakker went to jail, Tammy has bounced back and developed a cult following that transcends her previous Christian-only base. I read about one Tammy Faye standing-room-only appearance in
Atlanta… and about how she has earned many gay fans due to her support of the gay community. She also at one time co-hosted the “Jim J. and Tammy Faye Show,” starred in the documentary “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” and appeared on the reality show “The Surreal Life.” 

And in each of these appearances, she is someone you literally can’t take your eyes off of – and it’s hard to explain why her bizarre celebrity status has endured through the years. Whatever the case, in those interviews I have seen, she appeared to be sincere in her faith – and brave in battling cancer – and told viewers: “I want you to find peace. I want you to find joy.”

Broadcast Journalism, cancer, evangelist, PTL, Tammy Faye Bakker