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Decades ago, my father and Jean, my stepmom, visited London. On their return, they told me, a young Anglophile who longed one day to go to the United Kingdom, many things about their trip: from riding London's double-decker buses to seeing the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum to shopping at Harrods to watching the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. This fascinated me until, Jean said, "We saw Barbara Walters in the elevator one day. Your Dad said 'hi, Miss Walters! I like your work!'"
"Wow!" I exclaimed, "what did she look like? What did she say? Was she on a big story??? Did you tell her you had a stepdaughter who wants to be a writer?'"
"I didn't pay any attention to her!" Jean snapped, "I won't say what I think of her. She thinks she's too high and mighty to say hello to your father!"
"On, that's all right," my Dad said, "She's a great reporter -- not bad looking and she's got cojones!"
That's the thing about Barbara Walters, who signed off as a host of the TV show "The View" last month.
 You might, as I and legions of viewers (especially women) have for years, love and respect Walters; or you might, as Jean and many others (both male and female) have, find her to be arrogant, aloof, rude and/or pushy. But, say what you will, I'd bet the nearest cable box, You Tube clip, or streaming device – that Walter's work for more than half a century in television – will remain indelibly etched in your earbuds, eyeballs and DNA.
When Walters began her career with the "Today Show," women were rarely permitted to be reporters or taken seriously as journalists. For years on "Today," she was only allowed to be the "girl" who did fluff interviews. Only, the boys could descend from Mount Olympus to be co-hosts of the show. While battling sexism on "Today" and later at ABC (where Harry Reasoner couldn't stomach having Walters, a woman, co-anchor the news with him), she scored interviews with not only celebs, but world leaders such as Fidel Castro.
Many from Johnny Carson to Gilda Radner (of "Baba Wawa" fame) to the current "Saturday Night Live" gang have joked or parodied Walters. Some, not always, but often, men, of a sexist persuasion, have dismissed or lambasted Walters for being too aggressive, too ambitious, or just, somehow, not feminine enough. The nerve of that pushy "broad!" What right did she have to burst in on the sanctity of the all-male-news-club? Why waste TV air time with "The View" – a gaggle of, Lord save us!, women talking about everything from sex to politics to fashion to sports? Who wants to see that when they can watch legitimate, real newsmen (with emphasis on men) strut their stuff? What's "The View" (which has made some real news with its interviews of politicians from McCain to Obama to the Clintons) compared to Jon Stewart (the cynical king of fake news)?
Many from the sexist to the pompous sneer at "the View." Yet, the program, for years, has been one of the most progressive shows on TV. Now in its 17th season, the show has consistently had co-hosts who are (and were) women, men, people of color and gay (spanning many generations). While other talk shows (as well as sit-coms, dramas, and even some news shows) have shied away from potentially controversial topics, "The View" has candidly discussed hot-button topics from homophobia to sexual abuse to race. Though Obama joked that he appeared on "The View" because he wanted to be on a show that Michelle watches, there was some truth in his quip. In a country so divisive, that you wonder if even two people could agree that the sky is blue, "The View" is one of a few communal listening posts. For sure, it's not to everyone's taste. But it's a place where one can hear (sometimes) heated, but, entertaining and generally respectful discussion (from liberal and conservative viewpoints) on the issues of the day. You can enjoy it whether you're a post modern poster child or a regular Joe.
Walters seemingly is easy to dis. She's famous, has trouble pronouncing "r's," never suffers from humility and plugs her work endlessly. But only a fool would discount her work. Few people have worked harder to get interviews or to prepare before interviewing their subjects. Some well-known TV news anchors have little involvement with the stories that they report. They leave most of the work for producers and assistance. This has never been the case with Walters. Yes, she's had the help of producers and assistants. But Walters prepped extensively for her interviews. In an ABC special on Walters that aired in May, subject after subject marveled that she knew more about their lives then they did themselves. Who else could have gotten Menachem Begin to sit down together with Anwar Sadat or Elizabeth Taylor to say she enjoyed being fat?
Walters correctly has said that her most important legacy may be the impact that she's had on women entering journalism. The news business is a hard, often sexist business to break into. Over her career, Walters has inspired aspiring women journalists from Oprah Winfrey to Katie Couric to me, your humble scribe. It's hard to feel sorry for yourself when you recall all that Walters went through to get where she is.
Contrary to what some might think, sexism still exists in the media. The Women's Media Center recently conducted a study on women in media. Margaret Sullivan, the public editor of The New York Times, reported these, among the study's findings, in a post on her blog last month:
"At the nation's 10 most widely circulated newspapers, men had 63 percent of the bylines, nearly two for every one for a women. (The study looked at bylines only in the first section of the papers.)"
And "At three major papers,...and four newspaper syndicates, male opinion-page writers outnumber female writers four to one."
To be fair, things have improved greatly since Walters started out for women in journalism. I've worked with women journalists who are high level editors. Today, female reporters and editors are much less likely than in the 1960s, 1970s or even ten years ago, to be the only "girl" at (male dominated) meetings. But props to Walters for paving the way.
In addition, to being a stellar interviewer and a pioneer for women in news, Walters, 84, deserves props for her writing and talking about people with disabilities. Many in the media (some decades younger) still use out-dated, ableist language to describe disability. Nearly twenty-five years after the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed, they still use outmoded terms like "mentally retarded" or are closeted about the disabilities that they or their family members have. This hasn't been the case with Walters. In her candid memoir "Audition," she wrote openly about her (deceased) older sister Jackie. Years ago, Walters wrote, people called her sister "mentally retarded." Today, she said, people call people like Jackie "intellectually disabled." When she was young Walters, wrote she "loved" Jackie, but, as many siblings of people with disabilities are, was often "embarrassed" by her.
Sometimes news anchors try to come across as God-like–inhuman voices of authority (who never seem to eat or go to the bathroom). In other cases, reporters (especially famous ones) become so self-referential that the news becomes The All About Me Report. Walters is the increasingly rare anchor who successfully, at times brilliantly, reported the news while keeping (and knowing when to reveal) her personality. She's not going to tell you too much information about herself (she's way too old school to indulge in TMI). But she's not going to pretend that she doesn't eat, have romances, have a fave movie (hers is "Gigi") or pee.
It's hard to believe that you'll ever really retire, Barbara Walters. But whatever you do, we hope you enjoy "The View."
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