Chicago journalist and talk radio host Amy Jacobson and the network that broadcasts the show she co-hosts have sued Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, accusing Pritzker of unconstitutionally denying her the opportunity to ask the governor questions as a member of the press, after she reported Pritzker’s family had traveled to family estates in Florida and Wisconsin, even as Illinoisans remained under a stay at home order issued by Pritzker.
The governor and his spokespeople have said Jacobson was banned from participating in Pritzker’s regular press conferences because she had spoken at an anti-Pritzker rally. They said she would no longer be considered “an impartial journalist.”
On June 1, attorneys for the Liberty Justice Center, of Chicago, filed suit in Chicago federal court on behalf of Jacobson and her employer, Salem Media of Illinois.
“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,” said Patrick Hughes, president of the Liberty Justice Center, in a prepared statement released when the lawsuit was filed.
“And 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.”
The litigation centers on actions Pritzker and his media relations office took in mid-May against Jacobson.
Jacobson has worked in media, both in Chicago and elsewhere, for more than 25 years, as a news reporter and a talk show host. For the past 10 years, she has co-hosted the morning show with pundit Dan Proft on radio station AM 560 The Answer. That station is owned and operated by Salem.
Beginning in April, Jacobson attended and questioned Pritzker during the governor’s daily press briefings to address state actions taken to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Those actions included a so-called stay at home order, issued in March, that resulted in the closure of thousands of businesses across Illinois and prohibited Illinoisans from traveling, except for “essential” activities.
During that time, Jacobson remained a frequent critic of Pritzker’s actions and policies, sharing those views as host of the radio program.
On May 15, the complaint said, Jacobson “was the first journalist to report that Governor Pritzker’s family was staying at their 1,000-acre horse farm in Wisconsin, after previously staying on a family farm in Florida,” even as the stay at home order remained in place in Illinois.
“The story struck a nerve, with coverage by numerous statewide news outlets,” the complaint said.
The next day, on May 16, Jacobson was among those who addressed a rally in Chicago, opposing Pritzker’s executive orders.
On May 18, Pritzker’s media relations office informed Jacobson she would no longer be allowed to participate in Pritzker’s press conferences and “was blocked from asking questions.”
In an email to Jacobson, Pritzker’s press secretary Jordan Abudayyeh said: “This weekend you attended and spoke at a political rally to fire up the crowd opposing the Governor’s policies to combat COVID-19. That rally was attended by people holding hateful Nazi imagery. An impartial journalist would not have attended that rally in that capacity and therefore you will no longer be invited to participate as an impartial journalist.”
Pritzker was later asked about the Jacobson ban, and said: “She represents a talk show that has a particular point of view, we allowed her to ask questions because once upon a time she was a reporter, but she proved that she is no longer a reporter.”
In the complaint, Salem and Jacobson said the organization “permits its journalists to undertake public speaking events like the rally to connect with its listeners in-person and to potentially gain new listeners among like-minded audience members.”
The complaint also noted Jacobson’s “comments at the rally were consistent with the ‘point of view’ that she had been expressing for weeks on her show.”
The complaint said Pritzker and his staff merely used her attendance at the rally as “a pretext to remove a troublesome or contrarian reporter from the press corps.”
“Jacobson’s remarks at the Reopen Illinois rally to share her views are no different from numerous other journalists who blend news and opinion in their reporting, like a TV show host or newspaper columnist,” the complaint said. “Numerous other journalists who retain their press passes from the Governor’s office also provide opinion and commentary on public events, which shows that the revocation of Jacobson’s pass is either pretextual or content-based retaliation and viewpoint discrimination (or both.)”
The complaint asserts Pritzker and his communications team violated Jacobson’s First Amendment speech and free press rights as a journalist and citizen, and her rights to equal protection and due process under the 14th Amendment.
“The reason we sent Amy to these press briefings is because she is a dogged reporter with a reputation for holding public officials accountable. 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,” said Jeff Reisman, regional vice president and general manager of AM 560, in a prepared statement . “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.”