Dupage Policy Journal

Former Republican Congressional candidate Jeanne Ives has demanded a retraction from WBBM and WGN for what she called "slanderous" reporting of a story about her involvement in the Glen Ellyn D41 mask protest.

Ives said she supported the protest, but didn't organize it, and even identified who planned the rally against having children wear masks in school.

"The organizer of the protest has been identified multiple times by me and if WBBM did any research at all they would know that. They also did not contact me about their story," Ives told the DuPage Policy Journal. "I champion and support parents standing up for their rights, but I would never take credit for someone else's organizing efforts to push back against the tyranny in Illinois."

In an update to its story, WBBM added a retraction to the earlier claim that Ives organized the protest. It included an email from Ives' advocacy group Breakthrough Ideas.

"Mrs. Ives is not the organizer of the Glen Ellyn Event," the e-mail read. "Mrs. Ives only attends the protest once a week in support."

Kathleen Murphy, president of Breakthrough Ideas, wrote letters to WGN-TV on Sept. 15 that focused on a news report by reporter Mike Lowe from the day prior on the protests that they believed focused too much on Ives and gave a "false impression" about her involvement in them.

"Mr. Lowe had the wherewithal to contact Breakthrough Ideas for permission to use the video posted on her page, but ignored the clear focus of the video," Murphy said in the letter that was posted on the organization's Facebook page. "Ives introduces the organizer of the event, who addresses comments from those who oppose them, as well as the abusive statements made to them."

The letter went on to say Lowe "cherry-picked" the video he used in the report to misrepresent her role. 

In the WGN story, Lowe quoted Ives as saying "we're standing up for our children, we're standing up for our individual rights and these people want to be an arm of the government."

In the version currently published on WGN's website, there's no mention of Ives being an organizer.