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Barbara Walters, groundbreaking TV journalist, dies at 93

Funviralpark 2 years ago 0 2

Iconic television journalist Barbara Walters, known for her interviews with presidents, world leaders and Hollywood stars, has died at the age of 93, Walters’ representative confirmed to CBS News on Friday night.

“Barbara Walters passed away peacefully at home surrounded by her loved ones. She lived her life with no regrets. She was a trailblazer not only for female journalists, but for all women.” CEO Cindy Berger said in a statement.

Walters’ cause of death was not immediately announced.

Walters has been a familiar face on American television for over 50 years, interviewing every president from Richard Nixon to Barack Obama and setting a bar unlike any other.

Barbara Walters attends the New York Gala at the Paley Center for Media at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City on February 16, 2011.

Michael N. Todaro/Filmmagic/Getty Images


Born in Boston in 1929, Walters attended Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, according to an ABC News profile. She began her career in the early 1960s as a writer and researcher on her NBC show “Today,” but within a year she became a general reporter, developing her own stories, I was in charge of writing and editing.

It was at NBC that Walters began developing her signature interview technique. In her 2000 interview with Television Academy, reflecting on her career, she described the process of developing these questions.

“I write questions on cards, hundreds of them…” she said. “I write down everything I can think of. ’ and I boil them down and boil them down. ”

In 1974, Walters was named “Today”‘s first female co-host. Two years later, she moved to her ABC, becoming the first woman to co-anchor the network’s evening newscast.

She reached astounding heights on ABC, including arranging and conducting the first joint interviews with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in November 1977, bringing the two countries to a historic peace treaty. led.

ABC's Barbara Walters – file photo
Barbara Walters interviews Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on November 20, 1977.

ABC Photo Archive via Getty Images


“It was a historic interview and I am very proud to have been involved. or interviews with all the people you know…” It’s very difficult to answer them, but I usually say Anwar Sadat.

Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather murmured Walters said Friday that she was a “pioneer and a true professional” who “worked, thought out and struggled better than her competitors. That’s why she left the world.”

On ABC’s news magazine 20/20 and her own special, Walters continued to add to the list of big interviews. Her guests included Russian President Boris Yeltsin, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Cuban leader Fidel Castro, Libya’s Moammar Gaddafi and Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. She also conducted her first interview with President George W. Bush after the September 11 terrorist attacks and was the first American journalist to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In 1999, Walters also secured her first television interview with Monica Lewinsky following the scandal that led to the impeachment and acquittal of President Bill Clinton. According to ABC, that interview was the highest-rated news program broadcast on a single network.

“Barbara was a true legend, a pioneer not only in journalism, but in journalism itself. She conducted many of the most important interviews of our time, from heads of state and American leaders. It was an acquired, unrivaled reporter who gave power to the biggest celebrities and sports icons,” wrote Robert Iger, CEO of Disney, which owns ABC.

Along the way, she became one of America’s most famous and most admired women.

Walters also helped create the morning talk show “The View,” which she said began in 1997 when the network asked if it had any ideas for daytime television. She told Television Academy that “The View” was able to show a side of her personality that wasn’t seen in a typical interview.

“People thought I was very authoritative and very serious because that’s what I’ve been doing mostly. Here I can be myself. Note These other women can end up doing too much with me.” Ask them about my sex life and who I was. It’s a chance to be yourself, laugh and speak spontaneously, and it’s been very successful.”

In 2004, after 25 years as co-host and chief correspondent of “20/20,” Walters left the show, but she remained with the network, producing primetime news specials. of the year’s biggest celebrities and newsmakers.

In a conversation with Oprah Winfrey at the time, Walters said she wanted to leave “20/20” and see more of the world.

“I’ve worked my whole life and never had the time to go to a city or country that wasn’t in the studio,” she said. [a primetime special about Oprah’s work in South Africa] Not only tears, but also longing. I have been to China four times, but I have never actually seen China. ”

During an appearance on 2013’s “The View,” she announced her intentions He retired from television the following year.

“Instead, I want to sit in a sunny field and admire the very talented woman who takes my place.

Walters has received dozens of awards throughout his career, including the Foreign Press Club of the Year Award, a Daytime Emmy Award for “The View,” and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. There is also a wax figure of her at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in New York City and a star named after her on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

for her last day 2014’s “The View” brought the network’s decades-long female journalists to the stage. The guest list included Jane Pauley, Katie Couric, Gayle King, Savannah Guthrie, Deborah Norville, Connie Chan and many others.

“This is my legacy…these are my legacies,” Walters said, looking around at the women.

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