Iconic journalist and TV host Barbaras Walters has died aged 93. Her death was announced on air by ABC News, the US network she worked at for more than 40 years.
Walters, who created the long running chat show The View, died at her home in New York on Friday, said Roger Iger the Chief Executive of the Walt Disney Company which owns the ABC network. On Twitter Iger described Walters as a one-of-a-kind journalist and a pioneer of modern journalism.
Walters made headlines in 1976 when she became the first woman to be appointed as the news anchor of a major TV network. Her unprecedented million-dollar salary saw her breakthrough the ‘glass ceiling’ paving the way for many women in journalism who followed.
Walters began her career in 1951 and worked until her retirement in 2015. Her father Lou Walters ran nightclubs and worked in the theatre and Barbara would later note that being around famous performers from a young age gave her one of her greatest strengths in her later career as she was “in awe” of anyone’s celebrity.
After working in an advertising agency, she joined an NBC affiliate in New York where she wrote promotional material and media releases. In 1953 she began producing a short children’s television program, two years later she was a writer for The Morning Show at CBS.
After spending sometime out of the television industry working as a publicist, she joined NBC’s Today show as a writer and researcher in 1961. Soon she was appearing on camera as the ‘Today girl’ a role that saw her assigned light interviews and weather reports.
Her popularity grew but she faced sexist discrimination and barrier to advancing. When new host Frank McGee joined the program in 1971, he insisted that on any joint interviews he asked three questions before Walters was allowed to join in. After McGee’s death in 1974 Walters was officially named co-host of the Today show, the first woman to hold the role.
She made the move to co-hosting the ABC evening news in 1976 and she began to score some impressive interviews with world leaders including Egyptian President Answar El Sadat, the UK’s Margaret Thatcher, Cuban leader Fiedel Castro, and Indian Prime Minister Indira Ghandi.
Walters is also remembered for many celebrity interviews including conversations with Michael Jackson, Katherine Hepburn, Anna Wintour and Sir Lawrence Olivier. In 1999 she broke ratings records for a news program when she interviewed Monica Lewinsky. In 1994 diver Greg Louganis selected Walters for an interview where he shared, he was living with HIV.
In 1997 she launched a new program, The View which saw five female hosts discuss news and current affairs. The show is currently in its 26th season, and has inspired a raft of similar shows around the world including The Talk, which airs on rival network CBS, the British show Loose Women and Australia’s Studio 10 and The Circle.
OIP Staff
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