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Broadcast legend Barbara Walters dies at 93

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 ABS-CBN News, Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Photo from Barbara Walters" Facebook="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/12/31/20221231-broadcast-legend-barbara-walters.jpg"/><figcaption>Photo from Barbara Walters&#x27; Facebook page</figcaption></figure></div>(UPDATED) Pioneering television journalist Barbara Walters, who upended a male-dominated industry as the first woman to anchor an evening news show in the United States, has died at the age of 93, her long-time employer ABC said late Friday.Walters interviewed a host of US presidents, foreign leaders such as Anwar Sadat and Fidel Castro, and A-list celebrities in a hugely successful career that spanned five decades -- becoming a touchstone of American culture in the process.ABC did not give a cause of death or say where Walters died.Her news career began in earnest in 1961 when she joined NBC&#x27;s breakfast news and entertainment show &quot;Today.&quot;Walters became the first woman to anchor a US evening news program when she joined &quot;ABC Evening News&quot; in 1976, earning the then-unprecedented salary of one million dollars a year. Three years later, she was named co-host of the news magazine program &quot;20/20&quot;, beginning a run that would last more than two decades. Walters was born in Boston and graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in New York in 1953 with an English degree.She briefly worked as a secretary, then as a writer at NBC, eventually becoming the network&#x27;s first female anchor in 1974, co-hosting the morning &quot;Today&quot; show program. Two years later, she would join ABC.Walters was married four times to three men, one of them twice.Among the celebrities who appeared on the farewell episode of &quot;The View&quot; was Oprah Winfrey, one of the most powerful figures in US mass media.&quot;When I auditioned for my first television job, I walked in not knowing what to do, so I pretended to be Barbara Walters,&quot; recalled Winfrey. &quot;I sat like Barbara and crossed my legs like Barbara,&quot; she said.Walters &quot;passed away peacefully in her home surrounded by loved ones,&quot; according to her representative Cindi Berger, as reported by <a href="https://people.com/tv/barbara-walters-legendary-broadcaster-creator-the-view-dead-92/" target="_blank">People</a>.&quot;She lived her life with no regrets. She was a trailblazer not only for female journalists, but for all women,&quot; Berger added.Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger took to Twitter to pay tribute to Walters, describing her as &quot;a one-of-a-kind reporter&quot; and &quot;a dear friend.&quot;<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">I have sad news to share today. Barbara Walters passed away this evening at her home in New York. <a href="https://t.co/fxSyU6BQk4">pic.twitter.com/fxSyU6BQk4</a>— Robert Iger (@RobertIger) <a href="https://twitter.com/RobertIger/status/1609018986360102912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2022</a></blockquote><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script>Exceptional life and careerWalters is the first woman to co-host the ABC News show that is now known as &quot;Today&quot; in 1976. She became a co-host of &quot;20/20&quot; three years later, and launched &quot;The View&quot; in 1997.In her career that spanned five decades, Walters won a total of 12 Emmy awards. Before leaving television, Walters had interviewed every US president and first lady since Richard Nixon.Walters&#x27; long list of interviewees included political leaders such as Boris Yeltsin, Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Saddam Hussein and Vladimir Putin, and A-listers like Michael Jackson, Angelina Jolie and Harrison Ford.&quot;She did some important things that will go down in television history, including to help break into the old boys&#x27; network of broadcast journalism in the United States,&quot; media scholar Robert Thompson at Syracuse University in New York told AFP in 2014.She largely retired from television after signing off in 2014 from daytime program &quot;The View,&quot; which she had launched in 1997.Walters created a much-copied template for high-profile political and celebrity interviews -- and blazed a trail for women in an industry run by white middle-aged men.&quot;How proud I am today when I see all the young women who are making and reporting the news,&quot; Walters said on her last appearance on &quot;The View.&quot; &quot;If I did anything to help that happen, that&#x27;s my legacy.&quot;

Broadcast legend Barbara Walters, known to many as the first woman to co-host a morning and evening newscast in the United States, has passed away.

Broadcast legend Barbara Walters dies at 93

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Broadcast legend Barbara Walters dies at 93

ABS-CBN News,

Agence France-Presse

Published Dec 31, 2022 01:39 PM PHT

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