INTERVIEW VIEW Interview INTER The Interviewer An Interview with Barbara Walters That caused them to make the mistake of thinking material for an interview, but this is recent. Over that she could be an interviewer because she was the years, I would see if the interviewee had done a great actress. television talk shows and, if so, I would look at At the convention in Atlantic City where those interviews. You have to do homework. There Lyndon Johnson was nominated, they had to re- is no substitute for preparing well. place her. They needed someone quickly who they could hire and I was already there as a writer. So they hired me for no additional money for 13 weeks and I stayed on for 13 years. When you refl ect on the progress made by women in television, do you see opportuni- ties improving? Barbara Walters receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award at the I think so. One thing I’m most proud of is that Daytime Emmy Awards in 2000 after me, there were no more Today Girls. I insisted that I wouldn’t do that and, in any event, it led up EDITORS’ NOTE Barbara Walters is one of the to my becoming equal with the men. I see that as most highly acclaimed television personalities. She my legacy and, today, there is nothing in TV that has hosted the morning television shows Today and women cannot do. The View, the television news magazine 20/20, and When you talk of your progress as has co-anchored the ABC Evening News. She was a woman on TV, it sounds like an easy transi- also a contributor to ABC News. Walters fi rst became tion, but clearly it was not. Would you discuss known in television as a writer and segment pro- this further? ducer on The Today Show, when she began work- Frank McGee was then on-air at NBC and ing with host Hugh Downs in 1962. In 1974, she didn’t want me on with him. There was a point became the show’s Co-Host, the fi rst woman with where he wasn’t going to let me participate at all. that title for any network news or public affairs pro- After he died, network management were looking gram. Two years later, she became the fi rst female for another host. I said, no; the individual you select Co-Anchor of any network evening news program, will be co-host, because it was in my contract that, working with Harry Reasoner on the ABC Evening if anything happened to Frank McGee, I would be- News. From 1979 to 2004, Walters was also come the co-host. Nobody was focused on this but Co-Host and Producer for 20/20, again appearing there it was. Although it was accidental and not with Hugh Downs. From 1976 to 2010, she con- planned, or necessarily wanted, it was contractu- tributed as an anchor, reporter, and correspondent ally to be. for ABC News, as well as producing and hosting When that happened, was it accepted Do you enjoy interviews with people her own interview programs several times yearly. pretty quickly when the network powers saw from all walks of life? Beginning in 1997, she created and appeared as the talent you had for interviewing? In the past, there was the feeling that you Co-Host on The View. Walters retired from ABC No, I later learned there were people at NBC should not mix celebrity interviews with hard news News and as Co-Host of The View in May 2014. who did not want that to happen and didn’t think it interviews. But, for my fi rst special, I had Barbra should happen. They were not happy when it did Streisand with her then-boyfriend Jon Peters, and In the early years of your career, could you and the sentiment was more like, “How did we get also President Elect and Mrs. Jimmy Carter. That have envisioned the possibility of such an out- stuck with her?” Obviously, things worked out well. was considered to be almost impossible. But now standing run? What is your secret in conducting such we don’t question the broad range of content. If I never took success for granted. I started out interesting interviews? you watch morning programs, you will note that in television writing for other people. That’s what It’s curiosity. You have to be curious and the fi rst 20 minutes is news; then it may be inter- I did for Hugh Downs and others on The Today probing; you can’t just go to the second question in views or cooking, and so-forth. That has been a Show. I never thought I would also be on the air. your notes without digesting the response to ques- great breakthrough and has allowed for a wide mix In those early days, if you were going to be tion one. You have to listen. Your second question of celebrity interviews. on the air, you were referred to as the Today Girl, may need to be simply, Why? Why did you say I also feel that knowing what someone’s val- and you were either a model or an actress, or a that? Why do you feel that way? You can’t just go ues are, what makes them tick and what made them singer. I was the fi rst one taken from a backstage through a litany of questions. You must make it a the way they are today is very important. position. I wasn’t an actress or a model. I didn’t conversation. I have interviewed President and Mrs. Obama have that type of talent. At one point, they had How do you prepare for your interviews? four or fi ve times, and we usually divide the mate- Maureen O’Sullivan as the Today Girl, because they I am a big proponent of doing homework. rial into two sections. I talk with him about what- had seen her in a play in which she was wonderful. Today, you have Google, which provides wonderful ever major events are going on in the world and VOLUME 37, NUMBER 4 POSTED WITH PERMISSION. COPYRIGHT © 2014 LEADERS MAGAZINE, INC. LEADERS 15 to CNN or MSNBC, as well and making money with it. They didn’t want to run as look up what you want The View. It was only when the program began to on your iPad. Fewer people be successful that they agreed to carry it. In the early are watching television. years, when a station would pick us up, we thought They don’t tune in for the it was a big enough deal that we would announce 6:30 PM news, as used to be it on the show. the case. Being the anchor You’ve interviewed many heads of state of the evening news show who were compelling leaders with strong per- was as high as you could sonalities. Do you feel that such leaders are a get. It’s not anymore. thing of the past? Are we missing some- I don’t know if that is in the past. I do know thing now that the busi- that Fidel Castro was an amazing character and ness has changed? Anwar Sadat changed the course of history as well. There is some concern Menachem Begin was also one such leader. We that people are not watch- don’t seem to have that kind of leadership now that ing serious news, but if you the people recognize, with the possible exception want to fi nd it, you can. In of Vladimir Putin. many ways, it’s probably The question is, are these kinds of leaders still easier and more accessible being created? I believe that the circumstances cre- than before because of the ate the leaders, and I would cite Margaret Thatcher Barbara Walters interviews Katharine Hepburn for ABC News’ “20/20” in 1981 (left page); iPad or iPhone. in that regard. We don’t seem to have that kind of President and Mrs. Obama will sit together for a Thanksgiving visit in a joint one-hour special You have created huge personality anymore. with Barbara Walters. “A Barbara Walters Special: A Thanksgiving Visit with President and Mrs. great interest around When one watches a Barbara Walters inter- Obama” airs in November (above); Barbara Walters conducting the fi rst interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin following the terrorist attacks on the U.S. in 2001 (center); Barbara your television special, view, the fi nal product is seamless. What hap- Walters on the set of The View (bottom) Ten Most Fascinating pens if you are conducting an interview that People of the Year. does not seem to be going as you had expected? then I talk with both of them about their personal values. It’s important to know someone’s core be- I don’t have many liefs and how they were developed. This wasn’t more years; actually, this done in the past because it was considered “asking may be the last year. personal questions,” and that was a terrible thing I have a feeling you to do. Today, we know that much about the way have said that before. people make decisions is based on their personal No, I haven’t. I said I lives and their personal values, so questioning in would retire from The View this regard is not only accepted but encouraged. but I never said I was leav- You have always been interested in bring- ing television completely.