Jenn Arias ’24
Staff Writer
On Dec. 31, 2022, the world said farewell to one of its most loyal watch dogs, Barbara Walters. She passed shortly before the new year, peacefully in her home at age 93, after half a century of reporting crucial news stories, trailblazing TV talk shows, and inspiring young journalists, whom she lovingly referred to as her “legacy.”
A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College in 1953, Walters was known for her competitive and active pursuit of interviews. She worked hard to gain access to prominent people, sometimes sparking a rivalry with other reporters. According to CNN.com, she was “no slacker in terms of landing major interviews, including presidents, world leaders, and almost every imaginable celebrity, with a well-earned reputation for bringing her subjects to tears.”
Putting her English degree to use, she found work at a public relations agency after college. Walters’s first on-air job was at NBC’s “Today” show in 1961. Thirteen years later, she became a co-anchor.
In 1976, she made the switch to ABC News, becoming the first female news anchor on an evening news program. “At that network,” reported CNN.com, “Walters launched the ‘Barbara Walters Specials’ and ‘10 Most Fascinating People’ before becoming a co-host for ABC News’s ‘20/20’ in 1984.”
A chameleon for reporting news, Walters changed her position. However, she did not stop reporting hard-hitting news and asking difficult questions.
Walters is known for specific high-profile interviews during times of hardship in the country. In 1977, she met Fidel Castro, who led her across the Bay of Pigs. Three years later, the country tuned in to see what former President Nixon had to say for his actions as Walters imploringly questioned his decisions. She had also met with Katherine Hepburn in 1981.
She may have also been responsible for the divorce of Mike Tyson and (then) wife Robin Givens, whom Walters questioned about the rumors of domestic abuse which may have led to Givens filing for divorce the following day.
According to People Magazine, in ’96 she spoke with the Menendez brothers, who were convicted of murdering their parents. When one claimed that he was just a normal kid, Walters unwaveringly retorted, “‘Oh Erik! You’re a normal kid who killed your parents!’”
Perhaps one of her most famous interviews was with Monica Lewinsky in ’99 about the details surrounding her affair with former President Bill Clinton. An estimated 48.5 million viewers tuned in to see Lewinsky’s side of the story, in which she admitted that she had made a big mistake.
In 1997, Walters created “The View.” The show was revolutionary for its time and inspired other journalists, including Christiane Amanpour.
“She was an early inspiration for me. Barbara amassed a body of work so impressive and so extensive that it will never be replicated. She understood her role as the pioneer and as the warrior queen,” said Amanpour in People Magazine.
When Walters left “The View” in 2014 to the hands of preceding journalists, it was not a tragic parting, as she had accomplished everything she thought she could there.
“I like all the celebrations, that’s great,” Walters expressed in an interview with CNN. “But in my heart, I thought, ‘I want to walk away while I’m still doing good work.’ So, I will.”
When she retired after 50 years in the business, it was bittersweet knowing that we wouldn’t see her every morning with our coffee. However, people knew that she was still existing in the world, asking those tough crucial questions that most people are afraid to say out loud, finding the truth in an uncomfortable position, or even creating paths to understanding other people and cultures.
For half a century, Walters has been a loyal watchdog for the news, providing hard truth for this final frontier of knowledge that the public has the right and needs to know. While the future of journalism seems murky, the void that is left by the passing of Barbara Walters is not something that can be easily replaced. Only those who have been inspired by this true legendary woman can bridge the gap and bring the cold hard truth back into our homes and lives. Her loss does not represent the final frontier, but the beginning of a new chapter in journalism, as long as we strive for her commitment to the truth.
“How do you say goodbye to something like 50 years in television?” Walters said to CNN. “How proud when I see all the young women who are making and reporting the news. If I did anything to make that happen, that is my legacy.”
