TV news legend Barbara Walters remembered as a trailblazer for women
Barbara Walters, one of the most visible women on US television as the first female anchor on an evening news broadcast and one of TV’s most prominent interviewers, has died at age 93.
Walters, who created the popular ABC women’s talk show The View in 1997, died on Friday at her home in New York, Robert Iger, chief executive of the US ABC Network’s corporate parent, the Walt Disney Co, said on Twitter.
In a broadcast career spanning five decades, Walters interviewed an array of world leaders, including Cuba’s Fidel Castro, Britain’s Margaret Thatcher, Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi, Saddam Hussein of Iraq and every US president and first lady since Richard and Pat Nixon.
She earned 12 Emmy awards, 11 of those while at ABC News, the network said.
Walter began her journalism career on NBC’s The Today Show in the 1960s as a writer and segment producer.
She made broadcast history as the first woman co-anchor on a US evening newscast, opposite Harry Reasoner.
Breaking barriers
The intrepid interviewer, anchor and program host led the way as the first woman to become a TV news superstar during a network career remarkable for its duration and variety.
Walters‘ death was announced by ABC on air Friday night and also by her publicist.
“Barbara Walters passed away peacefully in her home surrounded by loved ones. She lived her life with no regrets. She was a trailblazer not only for female journalists, but for all women,” said publicist Cindi Berger in a statement.
During nearly four decades at ABC, and before that at NBC, Walters‘ exclusive interviews with rulers, royalty and entertainers brought her celebrity status that ranked with theirs, while placing her at the forefront of the trend in broadcast journalism that made stars of TV reporters and brought news programs into the race for higher ratings.
Walters made headlines in 1976 as the first female network news anchor, with an unprecedented $US1 million annual salary that drew gasps and criticism.
Fidel Castro is quizzed by groundbreaking journalist Barbara Walters in 1975. Photo: AAP
Her drive was legendary as she competed – not just with rival networks, but with colleagues at her own network – for each big “get” in a world jammed with more and more interviewers, including female journalists who had followed on the trail she blazed.
“I never expected this!” Walters said in 2004, taking measure of her success.
“I always thought I’d be a writer for television. I never even thought I’d be in front of a camera.”
But she was a natural on camera, especially when plying notables with questions.
“I’m not afraid when I’m interviewing, I have no fear!” Walters told The Associated Press in 2008.
Walters is survived by her only daughter, Jacqueline Danforth.
-AAP