Hot on the Versace heels of Telemundo reporter Mirthala Salinas delivering the on-air scoop of her own affair with L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa comes this story out of Chicago:
WMAQ-Ch. 5 executives on Tuesday continued to weigh what, if any, disciplinary action to take against reporter Amy Jacobson, seen on videotape in a swimsuit at the home of Craig Stebic, whose wife’s disappearance Jacobson has been covering.
Officials at rival station WBBM-Ch. 2, who had been debating since Friday whether they should air the tape, aired clips on Tuesday morning and posted a report on the station’s Web site after the tape’s existence was reported in the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times.
The tape appears to show Jacobson in a bikini top with a towel around her waist, as well as her children, at the Stebic home along with Stebic. Channel 2, which said the tape was shot Friday but did not say how it was acquired, also reported Stebic’s sister from Iowa was present.
Stebic’s wife, Lisa, 37, has been missing since April 30. The couple was in the process of divorcing and Lisa Stebic was moving to evict her husband from their Plainfield home on the day of her disappearance, the Chicago Tribune has previously reported.
The tape’s existence has been the talk of Chicago’s newsrooms, including Jacobson’s own, where she was asked to give her version of events to WMAQ President and General Manager Larry Wert, Vice President of News Frank Whittaker and News Director Camille Edwards. “The matter’s under review,” Channel 5 spokeswoman Toni Falvo said Monday.
Last week, Mickey Kaus wrote that “Nobody Covers the News Like Telemundo!” But in a different kind of Red Queen’s Race to the bottom, WMAQ is definitely catching up with them fast.
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