Walter Jacobson

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Walter Jacobson is a Chicago television news personality and former anchor who hosted FOX Chicago Perspective, a one-hour news and political show that aired Sunday mornings on WFLD-TV. He was the principal anchor on WFLD's FOX News at 9 until his 2006 retirement.

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[edit] Biography

A Chicagoan during his youth, Jacobson's love for the Chicago Cubs led him to become a batboy for the team, and motivated him to his first journalism job as the sports editor for his grammar school newspaper.

Jacobson received his bachelor's degree in political science from Grinnell College and his master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.


[edit] Career at WBBM-TV

Jacobson began his career at WBBM-TV as a writer and a reporter. In 1971 he moved over to WMAQ for two years, but returned to WBBM as an investigative reporter and anchor. He was solo anchor of the 5pm news for 10 years and co-anchor of the 10pm newscast for 16 years. For most of his time at WBBM, his co-anchor was Bill Kurtis. They formed a legendary anchor team in Chicago during the mid-1970s and early 1980s, when WBBM dominated the Chicago ratings.

Kurtis left for three years in 1982, and WBBM fell out of first place four years later. Jacobson left for WFLD in 1993 after a dispute with WBBM's management. The station slipped into last place two years later.

[edit] Career at WFLD-TV

At WFLD, Jacobson was the most popular of the station's news personalities, such as Robin Robinson, Tamron Hall, Byron Harlan, Nancy Pender and Corey McFerrin. Largely because of his influence, WFLD's newscasts have less of a tabloid feel than other FOX stations. However, they are much flashier than the other newscasts in Chicago, especially compared to WBBM during Jacobson's time there.

During much of his career, Walter hosted his own commentary segment entitled “Walter Jacobson in Perspective”. The basic concept revolved around Walter’s rants, which usually contained either biting social commentary or attacks on great injustices around the Midwest. Walter was never afraid to 'overstep' his boundaries. At times, he would often go after corrupt City of Chicago officials, or lash out at city workers and police officers that did little or no work. Also, Walter would use his segment to take up for the unempowered, helping fix various city based problems in poor neighborhoods, and helping numerous blue-collar workers.

Although Walter achieved success for himself and the city of Chicago, he was often heavily criticized by various traditional and conservative critics. Walter dedicated one of his segments to share hate mail he received over his career. Although most of the letters contained powerful and vulgar tones, which criticized Walter for what many saw as ignorance about gun control, one letter complimented Walter for his hard work, and Walter thanked the writer.

Jacobson often used his air time to tell Chicagoans humorous, though not necessarily newsworthy, anecdotes. He once used at least ten minutes of air time to explain how as a child he lost his baseball glove at Wrigley Field, and how it was recently found and returned to him.

In the Spring of 2004 Jacobson was seen staggering out of a pizza shop in Lincoln Park by an officer who advised him not to drive his double parked vehicle pending a sobriety test. He was later pulled over after running a stop sign. "Jacobson was charged with driving under the influence and cited for obstruction of traffic, failure to stop at a stop sign, invalid registration and failure to register his vehicle with the state of Illinois"[1]. Four days before his induction to the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame his DUI charges were dropped, he was sentenced to four months' supervision and a $450 fine for negligent driving, obstruction of traffic and running a stop sign. He also agreed to undergo evaluation for his use of alcohol.[2]. After the incident, Jacobson responded --with his Perspective commentary-- on Fox News, claiming he was pulled over by an unmarked car full of people in baseball caps, not policemen. He later went on to say that he was "mishandled" by the police. [1]

In February 2006, following Vice-President Dick Cheney's well-publicized hunting mishap, in which he accidentally shot a fellow hunter, Jacobson criticized Cheney for not speaking publicly about the incident. Walter proclaimed in his commentary, "I'm after you, Dick Cheney!" and later "You can't hide in the White House forever, I'll be waiting outside", while flaunting his portable coffee cup at a good moment to show that he would be comfortable and relaxed with a warm drink while outside the White House. Two months later, Jacobson announced that he would be leaving FOX News permanently in order to retire. During every 9pm broadcast before April 30, WFLD aired a special segment to honor Walter and his memorable contributions and accomplishments throughout his career.

[edit] Personal life

Walter Jacobson's son, Peter Jacobson, is an actor who has appeared in the television programs Will and Grace , Law & Order, and House and the film Good Night, and Good Luck, and has also done stage work in New York.


[edit] Awards

Jacobson's commentary, anchoring, and reporting skills have made him the recipient of several prestigious awards. The Chicago Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences recognized his commentaries with Emmy Awards. In 1985, a Washington Journalism Review poll named Jacobson best local anchor in the United States. In 1988, he received his fifth Peter Lisagor Award, his third for "best commentary." During the 1980s, the Du-Pont-Columbia judges honored him twice, once for his commentaries and the other for best local election coverage in the United States because of his work with channel 2. Jacobson's notable WBBM-TV specials and programs included the Emmy Award-winning Walter Jacobson's Journal: China and Studebaker: Less Than They Promised, which received a Peabody Award.

His most infamous news story occurred a year before he had switched to WFLD-TV. He once dressed up as a homeless person and lived on the streets of Chicago for a few days. He had a hidden camera and recorded what he experienced. In 1995 at WFLD, he repeated the feat once more.

[edit] Sources

[edit] References

  1. ^ Chicago Anchorman Walter Jacobson Arrested - News Story - WMAQ | Chicago
  2. ^ http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:hTUCbouYEV8J:findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20040609/ai_n12548675+walter+jacobson&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us&client=firefox-a

[edit] External links