A year after she showed up at the home of a missing woman’s husband in Plainfield and was caught in a bikini on the patio, former NBC 5 reporter Amy Jacobson is suing Ch. 2 for airing the video tape of her visit to Craig Stebic.

Jacobson claims that the report, which led to her departure from NBC 5, has also prevented her from finding gainful employment during the last year.

The civil suit claims defamation, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Defendants in the suit include Ch.2 president and general manager Joe Ahern, news director Carol Fowler, and several others, including a Northwestern University professor who appeared in the story.

Phil Rosenthal from the Trib:

The suit asserts Channel 2 portrayed her as “an adulteress and disreputable reporter” and said the station leaked word of the tape to newspapers, leading to published reports it used to justify airing the video.

The whole suit seems fairly ridiculous. While I can appreciate Jacobson’s angst over not being able to secure gainful employment during the last year, but that’s hardly Ch. 2′s fault. If Ch. 2′s camera had not captured the scene at the Stebic house, Jacobson was still wrong for showing up, in a bikini, and putting herself in that position. Had her bosses Ch. 5 found out in some way other than Ch. 2′s report, she still would have been fired.

Her inability to find gainful employment has more to do with her poor judgment (and her high price tag) than any suggestion by Ch. 2 that she was some kind of whore.

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