Barbara Walters, the US television broadcaster who became the first woman to anchor a primetime network news program and later launched The View, has died aged 93.
Tributes have been forthcoming from people in the news business around the world.
Walter first started in new media in the 1950s as a producer and first appeared on camera in the 1960s.
When CNN first released details Friday night in the US, the channel reported:
“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,” Walters’ spokesperson Cindi Berger told CNN in a statement.
Barbara Walters at NBC in 1953 (Source: NBC News)
Walters joined ABC News in the US in 1976, anchoring an evening news program. In 1979 she was appointed co-host of the news program 20/20 where she stayed for 25 years and in 1997 she launched the daily daytime talk show The View where she was one of the original co-hosts.
Other panellists over the years on The View included Whoopi Goldberg, Star Jones, Lisa Ling, Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Rosie O’Donnell and Meghan McCain.
Bob Iger, the recently returned CEO of The Walt Disney Company and the parent company of ABC News, released this statement late Friday in the US when news of Walters’s passing was released:
“Barbara was a true legend, a pioneer not just for women in journalism but for journalism itself. She was a one-of-a-kind reporter who landed many of the most important interviews of our time, from heads of state to the biggest celebrities and sports icons. I had the pleasure of calling Barbara a colleague for more than three decades, but more importantly, I was able to call her a dear friend. She will be missed by all of us at The Walt Disney Company, and we send our deepest condolences to her daughter, Jacqueline.”
Walters remained a co-host of The View until 2014, remaining as an executive producer of the program in addition to appearing on camera for news specials.
In a tribute to Walters today, ABC News detailed highlights of her career:
After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, in the 1950s, Walters found work as a publicist and television writer, before landing a spot as a writer on NBC’s Today show in 1961. She would become the program’s first female co-host in 1974, and won her first Emmy award the following year for Outstanding Talk Show Host.
In 1976, Walters found a new home on ABC’s Evening News, making history as the first female co-anchor of an evening news program.
In 1999, an estimated 74 million viewers tuned in to watch Walters interview Monica Lewinsky about the former White House intern’s affair with then-President Bill Clinton.
With The View, she created a forum for women of different backgrounds and views to come together and discuss the latest hot topics in the news, a format that has since been widely imitated by other networks. In a May 2019 New York Times Magazine cover story, The View was deemed “the most important political TV show in America.”
Part of ABC News’ Headquarters in New York was renamed The Barbara Walters Building in May 2014.
During her long career, Walters achieved many firsts, including earning the biggest paydays for female news journalists.
As 10 News First reported today:
Walters was a trailblazer in US broadcast television, becoming the first female news anchor to be paid over $US1 million annually after signing on with American broadcaster ABC in 1976.
10 News First tribute
CNN noted today Walters was married four times, to business executive Robert Katz, producer Lee Guber and twice to entertainment mogul Merv Adelson. The second marriage to Adelson ended in 1992. Walters is survived by her daughter, Jackie, whom she and Guber adopted in 1968.
Oprah Winfrey paid this tribute to Walters today:
Without Barbara Walters there wouldn’t have been me—nor any other woman you see on evening, morning, and daily news. She was indeed a Trailblazer. I did my very first television audition with her in mind the whole time.
Grateful that she was such a powerful and gracious role model.
Grateful to have known her.
Grateful to have followed in her Light.
The photo Oprah posted on Instagram today of her with Barbara Walters
Top image: The original hosts of The View [L-R] Star Jones, Joy Behar, Meredith Vieira, Debbie Matenopoulos and Barbara Walters (Source: ABC News]