Live television! Sometimes you just don’t know what you’re going to see and hear when a person on your tv screen doesn’t realize the camera is on and the microphone is hot.
Over the years, we’ve seen many examples, some funny, some sad, many in between. However, for the person who makes the mistake, it’s usually embarrassing or downright humiliating.
In the clip below, a woman is explaining to a reporter why she decided to give up her newborn baby and leave the infant at a fire station. She chats with the reporter, apparently unaware that she is being interviewed live during a newscast. Take a look.
Ouch! We can only imagine how the woman felt when she finally realized all her words had been televised. The lesson she learned, and one we preach during our media training workshops, is always assume a camera is on and a mic is hot. And we do mean always! Say or do nothing you wouldn’t want the world to see when the media is around. You will save yourself and your organization a ton of grief.