Meredith Vieira is an award-winning journalist who has hosted various TV programs including The View, NBC News Today, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and The Meredith Vieira Show, among many others. Vieira has hosted major events ranging from the 2014 Winter Olympic Games to President Obama’s inauguration. She is also known for her extensive advocacy work related to Alzheimer’s and other neurologic diseases.
Harvard Political Review: How did you first become involved with your advocacy work with Alzheimer’s?
Meredith Viera: I become involved with Alzheimer’s because of my family history. My aunt, father, and brother had it. Somewhere along the line, I heard about Alzheimer’s Buddies at Harvard College. I was fascinated by these Harvard students and the initiative they took to pair off with people with Alzheimer’s and connect with them. I thought it was such a good program and I wanted to learn more, so I brought them onto the Meredith Vieira Show. I wanted to help this group gain exposure, and their experience also spoke to the kinds of pieces I wanted to do on the show—pieces that inform the audience of things they wouldn’t know otherwise, to raise awareness, and to highlight people doing important things.
HPR: You’ve even spoken at Harvard twice regarding this topic. Could you describe that experience?
MV: When Harvard invited me to speak at the Harvard Alzheimer’s Symposium, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that I was going to go. And I had a really great time because not only did I learn about Alzheimer’s, but I also walked away with a little bit of hope. It felt like some of the best minds in the country were in that room talking about what needs to be done. For me it was extremely educational and moving. Those students impressed me so much. I was blown away by this group’s simple approach that nonetheless has a great impact—a model that can be repeated across the country.
HPR: Have you seen any progress in the search for a cure to Alzheimer’s?
MV: My husband and I are involved with the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases and we went to a fundraising event recently where some scientists seemed to suggest that we’re on the brink of discovering the cure to Alzheimer’s. It is hard to tell what “on the brink” means, but we were told with lots of enthusiasm that the research is moving very fast. It’s just dollars. They need money. That’s all they really need to conduct research. These scientists are also starting to work in a more concerted effort. Often doctors are doing research in different places, and they never combine notes and share information. I think there’s been a big push to get information shared around the world so that everyone’s working on the same problem on the same page.
Sometimes you can get so discouraged when you do this type of work because these are such serious illnesses. And all the progress they make is slow going. This is a given. What I’ve discovered is that you would never sign up to get involved with these diseases. But once you’re in it, you meet the most amazing people: patients, families, and healthcare providers. I wouldn’t give them up for anything. The people I’ve met are people trying to make a difference, trying to give illness a voice, trying to cure the sick.
HPR: What do you think has been responsible for your success on TV? What makes you different from other talk show hosts and journalists?
MV: It’s hard to put your finger on why you might do well and why others do not. I think part of it for me was timing. I got into the business in 1975 at a time when media outlets really needed women, and there were quotas that had to be met for women and people of color. So that timing was perfect and fortuitous. On the other hand, once I got in, people would say, “You only got in because you’re female.” I knew how hard I had to work to prove I deserved the job. So it felt like I worked harder than anyone around me. I had somewhat of a chip on my shoulder, and I felt like I was representing all women. And I was not going to fail. It was this determination that helped me.
This job also fit my personality. I began by reporting. I have the attention span of a 2-year-old, and when you report you go from story to story so that worked for me well. I loved interviewing people. I still really enjoy that. There is this whole theatrical quality to journalism. It’s basically show biz now…. But, ultimately, you are a conduit to others to give voice to people who wouldn’t have it otherwise. I always understood my mission, and I believed in myself.
HPR: How do you formulate your questions when interviewing your guests?
MV: It is different for every kind of interview I do. If it’s investigative, then the research tends to be exhaustive and I’m just looking for every little piece of information that I can. If I’m doing my daytime show and it’s a celebrity, I try to find something that hasn’t been mined before. Those people tend to be interviewed constantly. They have their script, and they don’t like to veer off it. So then I’m searching for something they haven’t talked about. When I’m doing a human-interest interview, my job is to relax my interviewee. If the person is TV-shy or private, my job is to help them feel so comfortable with themselves that they will talk in ways they might not otherwise. I really see myself as a facilitator. I’m trying to give them a voice and I want them to be comfortable so they can tell their story.
HPR: Who was your most interesting interviewee?
MV: I tend to like people who are not in the spotlight and whose stories would not be told otherwise. My favorite story involves a little boy named Anthony who I met when I was still reporter at CBS News. He was a poor kid from Chicago whose father had left him. His mother was a serious alcoholic, and they lived in a tenement. I was doing a story on hunger in America, and one day at a pizza parlor I meet this six-year-old boy who holds the door for me and asks what my astrological sign is. He was a character! And I just loved him with his face smudged with dirt.
He kind of haunted me. I didn’t even know why. He had so much life in him but I knew that this was a kid who did not have an easy life. His teacher had said that kids like Anthony end up in one of two places: prison or dead. The teacher had already written himself off, and he was six. I remember he had a lisp and he told me, “I don’t look for trouble. Trouble looks for me.”
When I left, I told Anthony to call me. And he started calling me pretty much every day. He’d read me my astrological sign, and we’d talk about school. I wanted to be there for him. I wanted to be a voice that cared. He went on to become the first person in his family to graduate from high school. He affected me because I was so impressed by the human spirit. Here’s a little boy with all the cards stacked against him, and he still gets up everyday. He understands the situation he is in, but he keeps striving for more.
I kind of crossed the line as a journalist. You’re not supposed to get invested with your subject matter. But at some point you have to be a human being too, and I couldn’t just walk away and never have contact with him. I felt like he had allowed me into his soul, and I owed him.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Image Source: Meredith Viera