Well, it’s not very often that Dan and I get to interview someone in the national spotlight.  We did interview Barack Obama, but that interview was via satellite.  This morning, the Reverend Jesse Jackson joined us on set.  Reverend Jackson is in town to help kick off the Indiana Black Expo Summer Celebration.  No one could have guessed that the day before his visit to Indianapolis, another story would develop and make national headlines.

As most of you know by now, Reverend Jackson made some comments about Senator Obama when he thought his microphone was off.  So, while I’m sure the Reverend would have preferred focusing only on Black Expo and all of the positives surrounding such a wonderful event, Dan and I had to ask him about the controversy.

The awkward part for me was the so-called, interview set-up.  Reverend Jackson was sitting right next to me while I read the story about what happened yesterday.  We ran the clip of what Jackson said.  Now, of course we had to run the soundbite.  I must admit, however, it was a little uncomfortable to have the Reverend sitting less than a foot away from me at the time.  Oh well.  It’s my job to report the news and that’s what I did.

There’s no doubt this is a story a lot of people are talking about.  Many people have questioned how someone can be sitting in a television studio, with a microphone on, and make a comment not meant for everyone’s ears.  There have been times when stories have been on the air and I am chatting with Paul or Dan about something totally different, only to have the producer tell me “hey… your microphone is still hot!” 

Well, if you’re not careful, you can find yourself in a hot mess when a microphone is nearby.  So, here’s some unsoliticted advice from the GMI crew.  If you’re anywhere near a microphone, always assume it’s hot and don’t say anything that could put you on the hot seat.