Barbara Walters, a prominent US television journalist, has died, ABC News announced. She was 93.
Walters joined ABC News in 1976 and was a news broadcaster and longtime anchor and correspondent.
"Barbara was a true legend, a pioneer not just for women in journalism but for journalism itself," Bob Iger, the CEO of The Walt Disney Company, which is the parent company of ABC News, said in a statement.
"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," he said.
According to CNN, which cited her spokeswoman, Cindi Berger, "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," Berger told CNN in a statement.
The American journalist is known for her effective technique in interviews of world-renowned figures, according to Britannica.
"The fact that I ended up on television — never ever thought that would happen."
How Barbara Walters broke through the glass ceiling — and became the most important woman pioneer in the history of TV news. https://t.co/G4PmqDe611 pic.twitter.com/luYSDDsrZE
Interviews with prominent figures
ABC News said Walters was the first female anchor on an evening news program.
Walters made headlines in 1976 as the first female network news anchor, with an unprecedented $1 million salary that drew gasps.
She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York, in 1951 and served as assistant to the publicity director for New York City’s NBC-affiliated television station, where her experience in writing and producing for television stepped up.
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 that made stars of TV reporters.
During her career, she won 12 Emmy awards, 11 while at ABC News, said the network.
“I never expected this!” Walters said in 2004, taking stock 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 searing questions.
By 2004, when she stepped down from “20/20,” she had logged more than 700 interviews, ranging from Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Moammar Gaddafi to Michael Jackson, Erik and Lyle Menendez and Elton John. Her two-hour talk with Monica Lewinsky in 1999, timed to the former White House intern’s memoir about her affair with President Bill Clinton, drew more than 70 million viewers.
“I hope that I will be remembered as a good and courageous journalist. I hope that some of my interviews, not created history, but were witness to history, although I know that title has been used," Walters told the AP upon her retirement from “The View.”
"I think that when I look at what I have done, I have a great sense of accomplishment. I don’t want to sound proud and haughty, but I think I’ve had just a wonderful career, and I’m so thrilled that I have.”
Subscribe to our Youtube channel for all latest in-depth, on the ground reporting from around the world.
Copyright © 2023 TRT World.
Copyright © 2023 TRT World.