I get really nervous when I meet well-known journalists. Sometimes I think I think I've moved on from that feeling, but when I met Geraldo Rivera yesterday I realized I hadn't. Geraldo comes off as personable, well-educated, well-informed, and very media friendly. That probably sounds like a silly thing to say -- it's not. The first station I worked at I got to shadow one of our veteran reporters doing a story on the show "The View." Barbara Walters was there that day. She denied to give us an interview after the show, didn't smile at us, didn't acknowledge us, and declined to shake our hands. We were never told why. As upsetting as I was I don't hold it against her. But it is true that some people are media friendly -- some aren't. Odd, considering they are the media. I met Oprah Winfrey while working at the same station. Her publicist told her not to talk to me as went running toward her as she was walking out the building. She stopped and spoke to me for at least 20 minutes.

Anyway, Geraldo -- nice guy. His first question to me was about our coverage of the little boy accussed of killing his father and his father's friend in the Phoenix area. He seemed a little dissappointed when I told him we weren't doing in-depth coverage on the story. I told him our station focuses on local stories and that ended that conversation pretty quickly.

The reason Geraldo was in town was for a book signing. His new book "Hispanic" is out in stores. He had a book signing at his alma mater -- University of Arizona. Quick a side note -- I bought a copy of the book last night. The first line gets your attention right away. Geraldo expresses his anger about the immigration issue affecting our country right now and he's very outspoken about it in his book. But he's pretty outspoken about a lot of things right?

I had a one on one interview with him that lasted about 15 minutes. He definitely has "the gift for gab" as he told many people in the audience who got to listen and talk to him during a public discussion of his book after our interview. If there's anything I felt while talking to him it was his passion. He's passionate about our country, passionate about journalism, and passionate about his values and beliefs. He admits his flaws as easily as he admits his strengths. A couple times during the interview he began to interview me, and rightfully so seeing as he's used to being the one behind the camera. I didn't say much about myself. Next to him, my achievements and background seemed somewhat insignificant. But I was flattered he cared to ask. To me, that's the sign of an unselfish person and in our business, I feel it's an exceptional quality to have.

To see my entire interview with Geraldo, click here

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