After pitching her idea of reporting on disabled issues in the news, Karen Meyer was offered the job to do it herself photo courtesy of abc7chicago.com

ABC-7’s Karen Meyer:
A shining voice in the face of adversity

by Erik Larsen

Eight years ago, television news reporter Karen Meyer got the opportunity of a lifetime - an interview with the legendary Ray Charles. The blues man was in Chicago promoting his new calling card at a big convention, and ABC-7 Chicago, Meyer’s station, asked her to interview him.

“It was more of a gangbang interview and I really wasn’t used to that,” Meyer said. “So I asked for a private interview, and they granted it to me. I introduced myself, but he … swings. Well, he was swinging and I said I was deaf. He bent down lower and started swinging more. I couldn’t see his mouth and I thought to myself, ‘Oh Lord, how am I gonna do this interview?’ But I had a good camera person who would tell me his answers to my questions.”

With wit and charisma to match her intelligence, Meyer has reached a plateau very few television reporters ever achieve. In 1991, ABC-7 Chicago, one of the premier news stations in the city, hired Meyer to be a features reporter in two of the prime time slots on the program. Meyer earned praise for her leadership and service, including a 2003 Damen Award from the Graduate School of Loyola University and the 2000 Distinguished Alumnus Award from Eastern Illinois University. She was honored along with ABC-7 in 1999, 1994 and 1992 with the National Easter Seal Society EDI Media Award.

She has led a simply extraordinary life. Meyer, however, has been profoundly deaf since birth, making her rise through the ranks of television reporters even more astounding.

“It never occurred to me to be a news reporter, I wanted to become a go-go dancer,” Meyer said. “I had the white boots and I would just practice, practice, practice. That was my dream, but as time passed, I had to be more realistic.”

After receiving her masters degree from Loyola University Chicago, Meyer went on to devote much of her life to social work and directing programs to help the disabled. Meyer served as executive director of the National Center for Access Unlimited (NCAU), a firm that assists corporations in complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990-92). From 1988-90, she worked in the Illinois Attorney General's Office as deputy chief of the Disabled Persons Advocacy Division. But while working for the United Cerebral Palsy Association (UCPA), a chance meeting with the general manager of ABC set her career as a news reporter in motion.

“Well, they (the UCPA) were nice enough to give me an office, I thought I should volunteer to answer phones during their telethon,” Meyer said. “I looked across the room and none other but the general manager of ABC was there, who also happened to be the founder of UCPA. I thanked him for capturing the news because if he didn’t, I couldn’t get the news.”

The general manager quickly saw the potential in Meyer, and asked her if she would educate people about disabilities at a big meeting. This meeting would prove to be the turning point in her career. After pitching her idea of reporting on disabled issues in the news, she was offered the job to do it herself.

“Really?” Meyer responded. “I have a speech problem. Don’t you have to have perfect speech to be on TV?”

But her worries were put to rest as she was offered speech training, a writer and a producer. “Oh, I hated speech therapy,” Meyer said. “Growing up I worked on speech and lip-reading. But I don’t know how loud I’m really talking, I’m just imagining.”

After budget cuts at her station, Meyer became the lone wolf of feature reporting, abandoning the necessity for a writer or producer.

“I do everything myself,” Meyer said. “I write, I produce, I track, I do everything! I used to have an agent too, but not any more. I negotiate my own deals. Most reporters are given an assignment too. I’m the opposite, because I get to put what I like on the air. I’ve never been censored for content. I’m lucky.”

Lara Suleiman, 25, is a Loyola graduate with a communication degree. While interning under Meyer, Suleiman saw first-hand the professionalism and determination of Meyer.

“Karen is special,” Suleiman said. “She’s a features reporter, but she does all her own work.”

Meyer has been reporting for ABC-7 for 14 years now, and produces 104 stories a year. She is often confronted with decisions on developing her story ideas.

“I never do stories about fundraising,” Meyer said. “They think you’re endorsing their product or whatever. But I do stories on organizations. If something’s coming up or there are new organizations that people aren’t familiar with, I’ll do those kinds of stories.

“But it’s hard, you don’t want to put your personal stuff in it,” Meyer said. “If I worked at Walgreen’s, I couldn’t put a story about Walgreen’s on the air. So I have to make sure I leave my personal stuff out of my stories - it’s a conflict of interest.”

Despite the ethical restrictions Meyer puts on her own stories, she has about nine stories in the can for reserve. In an industry where the early bird gets the worm, Meyer knows being prepared and ahead of schedule are priceless commodities.

“News is about being on time, when you get older you get more experience,” Meyer said. “I’m not out partying on Saturday night; I’m getting ready so I don’t look like Popeye in the morning.”

“We see anchors as celebrities,” Suleiman said. “But as Karen Meyer said, it’s not as glitzy as it looks.”

Meyer can be seen on the ABC-7 Sunday Morning News and on ABC-7 News each Thursday at 11:30 a.m. She has also taught at DePaul since 2003 and is the director of DePaul’s disabled program.