Overview
Barbara Walters’ early childhood consisted of a wealthy lifestyle as her dad was a nightclub owner up until her 20’s when her father had to sell their assets to pay off debt according to this article. She alternately lived in Miami, Boston, and New York City. All throughout her youth she was exposed to celebrities and show business which contributed to her comfortability with household names in her journalism career. Recognized as one of the first women to spearhead broadcast journalism, Walters pioneered a different aspect of journalism — televising interview features on A-Listers. She is most attributed by her relaxed but probing interviewing style while digging deep into the questions that the public really wanted to know. Before her, women on televised news were seen as a pretty face that stuck to the light subjects with no real substance.
Starting off at The Today Show as a producer and writer for women’s topics, Walters made her way in front of the camera as a replacement for the “Today Girl” which handled straightforward and light news segments as well as the weather according to this article. She became a permanent “Today Girl” where she became popular and gained notoriety as an on air personality. At the time, the women’s movement was still ongoing but not at its height. News report was still primarily male dominated and because of her gender, her position and significance was heavily overlooked. This was especially seen when the main anchor stepped down and was replaced by Frank McGee, a misogynist reporter who resented Walter’s position as she became an unofficial co-host. Approved by the executive producer, McGee set a rule stating that during interviews she was not to ask any questions until he asked 3 of his own. All throughout McGee’s employment, he made double the salary of Walters. It wasn’t until his death that she moved on to ABC where they officially named her as the co-host in 1976 which was groundbreaking as she was the first female to co-host as primary anchor for the evening news. She set the pace for women in news, as she moved away from only women related topics and ventured out to a broader spectrum that covered hard news and interviews.
On 20/20, Walter’s interviews took off as she conducted human interest stories on celebrities and dug deep into political scandal packages. From presidents and political figures to popstars and movie actors Walters interviews highlighted many different aspects of the upper class.
Most Notable Interviews
Fidel Castro (1977): Walters interviewed Cuban president Fidel Castro as they traveled the Bay of Pigs and the Sierra Maestra mountains where he lived with a small group of guerilla fighters. Throughout the trip, they covered a wide variety of issues including international affairs, domestic matters, and personal topics according to this article.
“The word ‘charismatic’ was made for him. You would have liked him, I would have liked him. Then you had to stop and say, ‘Just a minute. This is a man who does not believe in freedom of the press…does not believe in democracy as we know democracy, had political prisoners.'” — Barbara Walters
Monica Lewinsky (1999): Walters conducted an interview with a former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, who had a sexual affair with President Bill Clinton wich led to his impeachment. She broke her silence on the scandal and revealed personal details regarding the incriminating dress, her infatuation with the president, and the betrayal of the unknown recorded tapes. They also touched upon slut shaming and the dynamic of having an affair with a powerful man according to this transcript. It was one of the most watched interviews with 70 million viewers watching.
“I know I will never have an affair with a married man again. What I've come to see is that it happened because I didn't have enough feelings of self-worth. I didn't feel that I was worthy of being number one to a man.” — Monica Lewinsky
Other significant interviews with 20/20 included; Muhammad Ali, Jay Leno, Whoopi Goldberg, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Christopher Reeve, President Hugo Chavez, President Bashar al-Assad, Oprah Winfrey, Justin Bieber, Micheal Jackson, and Vladimir Putin.
The View
As one of the creators of The View, she constructed the daytime show to have a panel of women with "different generations, backgrounds, and views” according to Walters. The show focuses on society, political, and entertainment news as the co-hosts features a variety of different careers including lawyer, entertainer, broadcast journalist, and other television personalities. It provides intelligent debate and comedic relief regarding all things happening in the world. Though the show has recently been a hotspot for controversy regarding questionable comments by Whoppi Goldberg.Walters retired from being a co-host on in 2014 before the show changed directions. Many people have been turned off by the daytime show as it has steered many political narratives according to this article.
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