Journo Heroes - Barbara Walters

 I was inspired to write this blog after Riley Manion's presentation about Barbara Walters.

Riley describes her as a “trailblazer”. Walters will go down in history forever as one of the most influential journalists. What spoke to me so much about Barbara Walters was that she never took no for an answer and she tried until she got what she wanted. She was different from the people who had the job she wanted. She was a woman. 

Because she had to take on a lot of responsibilities for her family after the passing of her father, she grew very independent.

Walters stepped into the real world, and became a publicity director’s assistant for a show at NBC- and there she became the youngest ever producer at that station.

Something that stuck with me was: I found out her co-host Harry Reasoner did not even talk to her off the air. After receiving negative feedback from viewers, the job was taken away from her. As a female, in the 1960s, women were still not treated as equals to men - and still aren’t but that’s another blog post.

In an interview, Walters said that Reasoner did not want a partner and he did not want a woman. She was treated unfairly, and unequally because of her gender and the job she was trying to pursue.

She did not let this bump in the road stop her - she created The Barbara Walters Special, ended up returning to ABC and co-anchored 20/20 with Hugh Downs, and in ‘99 she hosted alone.

Walters co-owned, co-executive produced, and co-hosted a new show called The View in 1997. Clearly in order to be able to take on all of these roles at once, it shows Walters skills, enthusiasm and expertise at her job.

 “The era of journalism I grew up in was dominated by men, but this did not scare me. The first time I felt like I truly “shattered the glass ceiling” was when I became the first female co-anchor of the Today show after climbing the ranks—I started at the show as a writer, and then reporter at large. I felt this same sense of accomplishment when I joined the ABC News family in 1976 and became the first woman in history to co-host the evening network news. I remember the exact moment when I signed my contract: I suddenly realized that my face, as the first female co-anchor, would be in millions of people’s homes every night.” (Walters) (HERE)

 

Walters made a huge impact in the world of journalism and especially for women to look up to. She was on television for about 50 years and in the summer of 2013 she announced her retirement. She said her life in journalism has been fascinating, joyful, rewarding and occasionally challenging. Check out the video here! In 2014 she started her retirement.

This was my favorite quote : “I hope I may also have inspired other women to make television, in front or behind the cameras as a career. I smile when some young woman says ‘I grew up watching you on TV’, it’s their time now.”

This was once a male-dominated field and as a young aspiring Journalist, it is people like Barbara Walters that assure me my dreams are possible.