If you felt something was off about the Walter E. Smithe ad released last week, featuring a pantheon of local celebs wishing a fond farewell to Mayor Daley, you weren't the only one.
The presence of George W. Bush was surprising, maybe, but understandable. You might not have expected an appearance from fictional Alderman Ed Bus, a character created to poke fun at city government corruption -- but then again, as always, his praise was more than a little tongue-in-cheek.
(Scroll down to watch the ad.)
What was disturbing to many, especially in the media community, was the entirely unironic, syrupy love-fest laid on the mayor by a handful of the city's leading television news personalities. Two examples among many were CBS veteran Walter Jacobson saying, "Congratulations, Mayor Daley, for 22 years. It’s a long time and we have loved watching you go through it," and NBC's Alison Rosati: “Thank you, Mayor Daley, for being authentic — and for traveling the world bringing the best back to Chicago.”
Grumbling about the ad started almost immediately after it appeared, but the first thorough public excoriation of the anchors was by Robert Feder on his Time Out Chicago blog. From that post:
Excuse me while I throw up.
First of all, when did it become OK for television news people to appear in ads outside of those for their own employers? When did their stations abandon adherence to the standards and practices of their parent networks? ...
Beyond that, the notion of journalists gushing about how much they’ll miss Daley is just plain wrong. Expressing respect, I suppose, is one thing. But publicly heaping praise on a politician and professing gratitude to the guy? What part of “unbiased reporting” don’t they understand?
That post appeared Monday morning. Twenty-four hours later, the backtracking was already well under way.
As Phil Rosenthal wrote Tuesday in the Chicago Tribune's media blog, officials from CBS-2 and its cousin radio network WBBM said that their employees had no idea they would be appearing in a TV ad.
WBBM President and General Manager Bruno Cohen said that he only agreed to let his employees "participate in what was described to us as a farewell video that would be given directly to Mayor Daley when he steps down after 22 years in office next week," he said, according to Rosenthal.
And Tim Smithe, co-owner the furniture company, issued an apology to that effect. “Walter E. Smithe did not ask CBS 2 for permission to use its employees in a Mayor Daley tribute spot for broadcast,” he said in a statement. “I personally apologize for the misunderstanding and have had CBS 2 employees removed from our commercials.”
Indeed, as of Tuesday morning, several newscasters have been scrubbed from the spot, as Feder writes in an update to the story, including the CBS staff and Fox Chicago's Bob Sirott.
Still notably present are NBC's Alison Rosati and reporter Natalie Martinez, as well as station head Larry Wert.
Meanwhile, Charles Thomas of ABC was taking something of a victory lap during the dust-up. "Proud there were no ABC7 newsies in the furniture ad," he tweeted. "Our boss is 'old school' and wouldn't stand for it!"
Watch the unedited, full version of the ad: