United States: The famous American broadcast journalist Ms. Barbara Walters has died at the age of 93.
Ms. Walters made headlines as the first female network news anchor in 1976. She has interviewed several renowned personalities across the world, including every US president from Mr. Richard Nixon to Mr. Donald Trump, Cuba’s Mr. Fidel Castro, and Russia’s Mr. Vladimir Putin.
“Ms. Barbara 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,” publicist Ms. Cindi Berger shared.
Mr. Robert Iger, CEO of Disney, owner of ABC, remarked that “Ms. Walters was a true legend, a one-of-a-kind reporter and a pioneer not just for women in journalism but for journalism itself.”
The 12-time Emmy Award winner began her career in journalism in 1961 with NBC, where she became a segment producer of women’s interest stories. In 1974, the showbusiness booking agent’s daughter made history by becoming the first female co-host of a US news program, on NBC’s morning Today Show.
Ms. Walters created, produced, and co-hosted the ABC daytime talk show The View, on which she appeared from 1997 until her retirement in 2014. The journalist’s final on-air appearance for ABC News was in 2015.
“I have been blessed with a life I never expected,” Ms. Walters shared back in 2000, as she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.