Barbara Walters

From ArticleWorld

Barbara Ann Walers is an American media personality and news anchor. She is a pioneer in network news anchoring for women and started on ABC News in 1976.

Walters attended Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. She began her career as a writer for NBC's The Today Show in 1961 and moved up in the rankings very quickly. She had only been with the network a year and she was developing, writing, editing, and reporting her own interviews and reports. She became the NBC's first female co-host on The Today Show in 1974.

She switched networks and moved to NBC in 1979 to join Hugh Downs on ABC's 20/20. She later became the show's only host in 1999 before leaving the newscast in 2004. After leaving 20/20, Walters began co-hosting and co-producing The View, a daily women's talk show.

While at ABC, Walters was a commentator on many news specials and covered many big events, such as presidential inaugurations and the coverage of the World Trade Center attack on September 11, 2001.

Walters is known for her in depth interviews where she asks difficult personal questions; "personality journalism" as it is better known. Her interview with Monica Lewinsky after the presidential scandal received the highest ratings of any other interview covering that event. She has interviewed all types of people in many different countries. She has interviewed world leaders such as Egypt's president, Anwas Sadat, Rissia's Boris Yeltsin, Cuba's Fidel Castro, and many more.

Many of her interviews end up in tears, and she has been accused and criticized for going after tears to increase public ratings and not asking enough tough questions.

Her long career in broadcast journalism has opened the doors and created many opportunities for women in journalism.