The Mic is Always On
Did Jesse Jackson really say that? The Rev. Jackson’s comments about Sen. Barack Obama on Fox News last week are astonishing, but for more than the obvious reasons. Okay, let’s get the obvious out of the way. Jackson came across as both crude - I mean really, who talks like that? - and having some major sour grapes about Barack Obama’s candidacy. Clearly.
What surprised me, however, was not Jackson’s feelings about Obama, but that Jackson, an experienced public speaker and frequent talk show guest, made such a PR 101 blunder: assuming he was off-air. First rule in the most basic of media training: the mic is always on and, in the presence of any media, I don’t care if it’s the high school newspaper, you are always on the record. Forget about commercial breaks - there are no breaks on set. Jesse Jackson has been in the media spotlight since the 1960s. He knows better.
Remember the stir Olympic skater Nancy Kerrigan caused when, thinking her mic was off, she mumbled some disparaging words about having to appear in a parade for her sponsor, Walt Disney World? I’m not sure she’s ever really come back from that gaff. Will Jackson?
