Barbara Walters passes away at 93

ABC News reported that Barbara Walters, an Emmy Award-winning broadcaster and pioneer of women in broadcasting, has died at the age of 93. 

Walters, a long-time anchor for ABC News, also hosted the primetime show “20/20” and created the women’s talk show “The View” 1997 

Walters was born in Boston on September 25, 1929. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville (N.Y.) and took a job at CBS as a writer.

Later, she joined NBC in 1974. “Today” According to PageSix, the New York Post, show as the first female host after rising through the ranks of the peacock network.

Two years later, she joined ABC News, where she became the first female anchor of an evening news program and earned an unprecedented-for-the-time $1 million salary.

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NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 13:  TV personality Barbara Walters attends the New York Public Library Lunch 2016: A New York State of Mind at The New York Public Library – Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on April 13, 2016 in New York City.  (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images

ABC News was where she would make the biggest impact on journalism. She began her career as a co-host for the popular ABC News News. “20/20” Newsmagazine and later creating “The View” 1997. Walters, Meredith Viera Star Jones Joy Behar and Debbie Matenopoulos were the morning talk show’s initial panelists.

Walters quit the roundtable but stayed on with “The View” According to the Post.

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, in 2004, reflected on her success and said that she had never imagined being a news anchor.

“I never expected this,” She stated that at the time. “I always thought I’d be a writer for television. I never even thought I’d be in front of a camera.”

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New York, NY, 1998: (L to R) Charles Gibson, Sam Donaldson and Diane Sawyer. Connie Chung promo photo for ABC TV’s ’20/20. 
(Photo by Michael O’Neill/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images

Walters commented to the Associated Press 2008 about her interview style. “I’m not afraid when I’m interviewing, I have no fear.”

Walters was a news anchor for many years. She also had a two-hour interview with Monica Lewinsky, formerly Clinton White House intern, in 1999. This was her first interview since the scandal that resulted in President Obama’s impeachment.

She also interviewed Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, President Richard Nixon, Russian President Vladimir Putin – and lighter fare including Kermit The Frog & Miss Piggy, as well as Justin Bieber.

Walters stated that she didn’t want to anchor any other program when she spoke with the Los Angeles Times about her retirement from journalism in 2013. “climb another mountain.”

“I want to instead sit on a sunny field and admire the very gifted women — and OK, some men too — who will be taking my place,” She spoke to the paper.

Fox News “Hannity” Joe Concha, a media critic, reacted Friday to Walters’ passing, stating that the journalist was the epitome of professionalism.

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“[W]e talk about liberal bias and we talk about all the things that are wrong with media now today in America. But there was a time, particularly back in the 70s, in the 80s, where Barbara Walters was a great journalist and a real trailblazer, for that matter, for females within this profession as far as anchoring before anybody else even thought about putting a female anchor on the air,” He said.

“And then obviously she came up with the idea for The View back in the 90s — It’s not the view that we watch today, obviously, but her idea at the time was an exchange of ideas and debate from all sides. And she will be missed.”

This report was contributed by The Associated Press

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