By Julianne McShane -
NBC News
Journalists are mourning the death of television pioneer Barbara Walters, who died Friday at the age of 93 after a career that broke barriers in a male-dominated profession.
Many journalists praised Walters—who began her career on NBC's TODAY show in 1961, becoming the show's only female producer and first co-anchor before becoming ABC's first news show anchor— for breaking the glass ceiling for female reporters and helping others succeed along the way.
“Barbara was a trailblazer, a singular force that opened the door for all women in television news,” ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer said in a statement.
Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters in London, during a broadcast in 2011.Donna Svennevik / Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images file
"Sadness.
Gratitude.
And greetings from those of us who know how much we owe her,” added Sawyer, who hosted ABC's
Good Morning America
and
World News Tonight
throughout her decades-long career.
Sawyer and Walters were also co-hosts of
20/20
every Sunday from 1998 to 2000.
Andrea Mitchell, chief Washington correspondent for NBC News, sister network to Noticias Telemundo, and host of the
Andrea Mitchell Reports
on MSNBC, said in a statement that Walters “was a role model for all women who aspired to become radio and television journalists. television when the newscasts were exclusively for men.
[Legendary American Journalist Barbara Walters Dies at 93]
“He was a role model for me as he broke through on the
Today
show with talent, brains, hard work and a lot of guts,” Mitchell continued.
“She became a mentor and friend to me and to many other people who were lucky enough to know her.
No one will be able to match her in landing great interviews and asking exactly what people wanted to know
. "
Several women who followed in her footsteps as
TODAY
hosts — including Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb — paid tribute to her successes and support.
Guthrie posted an old photo of Walters on
TODAY
's desk with the caption: “Thank you Barbara.
You showed us the way.
You made it possible for the rest of us."
Kotb wrote that Walters "was the first... led the way... broke down the gate... so we could get through."
Inside Edition
host
Deborah Norville — a TODAY news anchor from 1989 to 1991 — said in a post on Instagram that Walters was “encouraging and comforting” when her career “fell down a hole.”
"Years later, we would occasionally have tea and she was always full of good stories (and good gossip!)...every one of us in a TV studio today gets to that place because Barbara was there first," Norville wrote. .
Katie Couric, who co-hosted TODAY from 1991 to 2006, called Walters "the best female voice actor" in a lengthy Instagram post.
“She was as comfortable interviewing world leaders as she was Oscar winners and her work is unmatched,” she wrote.
“I was a lucky recipient of your kindness and encouragement,” she continued.
“When I got a big (impromptu) interview with President Bush, he wrote me a note that I still have framed in my office.
'Dear Katie, you were terrific with Mrs. Bush - you knew so much more than she did - and getting the President was a real success.
You are very good.
Bravo!
Barbara".
Barbara Walters in the 'Today Show' studio in 1976Getty Images
Meredith Vieira, one of the original hosts of
The View
with Walters (from 1997 until she left to host TODAY in 2006), tweeted: "Barbara Walters led the way for all female journalists and we will always follow in her footsteps."
"The world of television journalism was a man's world," he stressed.
Walters' path to journalistic stardom was rocky, as she battled the sexism of her peers, something she spoke out about throughout her career.
When the late host Frank McGee joined TODAY in 1971 — three years before Walters was officially named co-anchor — he instituted a new rule: In interviews, she couldn't ask a question until he had asked three, she said.
Her next landmark role — on ABC, where she was the first female news anchor — fared no better when it came to on-air sexism.
A clip that circulated online after Walters' death shows his well-known icy relationship with the late
ABC Evening News
co-anchor Harry Reasoner, who Walters said refused to speak to him outside the studios, the New York Times columnist wrote. , Gail Collins, in 2011.
In the video, Reasoner noted that he "had a little trouble thinking of what to say" to welcome her first broadcast.
“I don't want to sound sexist, like, 'you light up the place,' or condescending, like, 'That wasn't a bad interview,' or fawning, like, 'how the hell do you do it?'” he said, as Walters laughed.
Barbara Walters, legendary American journalist, dies at 93
Dec 31, 202200:40
“The decision was to welcome you as I would any respected and competent colleague of either sex, noting that I have kept track of your stories and mine tonight: you owe me four minutes,” he continued before saying goodbye.
“The world of broadcast journalism was a man's world,”
Walters recalled in a 2014 interview with OWN, Oprah Winfrey's network, adding that “it's no secret, for example, that I had difficulties with (the late co-anchor of
ABC Evening News
) Peter Jennings.”
“He would interrupt me, never say 'thank you' or 'how interesting,' and we all just took it for granted,” he added.
“This is how the so-called 'hard news' was considered then.
A woman couldn't do it, the audience wouldn't accept her voice, she couldn't go to war zones, she couldn't ask the hard questions.”
“The fact that I asked the hard questions was very controversial.
Some admired me;
others said, 'she's rude,' Walters continued.
“On the one hand, it made me more valuable;
on the other, I earned a reputation as 'arrogant'... if I said to a politician 'yes, but you didn't answer my question', it sounded terrible.
If a man said it, it didn't sound terrible.
I was the heavy one."
“His powerful legacy continues”
When Walters' career peaked, being "the pushy one" also meant pushing other reporters into their own seats at the anchors' desk, several journalists said in their social media tributes.
ABC News correspondent Deborah Roberts wrote on Instagram that Walters "taught me so much and took me under her wing" after asking him in 1995 to join her on ABC's
20/20
, where Walters was a host.
Harry Reasoner and Barbara Walters in a 1976 photo. AP file
“Her powerful legacy lives on in all of the female journalists who were inspired by her passionate work and trenchant interviews,” Roberts wrote.
A report released last year by the Women's Media Center revealed that women make up 43% of prime-time television news anchors and correspondents during the week.
Former
ABC World News Tonight
co-anchor Elizabeth Vargas - who became the network's third female late-night news anchor, after
CBS Evening News
' Walters and Connie Chung - tweeted that Walters "
broke glass ceilings and blazed a trail. "
for many women
in the television news that would follow her... like me.
I will never forget her".
In a statement provided to NBC News, Chung said: “Barbara battled the male world of broadcast journalism with her relentless drive, intelligence and self-confidence to rise above the men.
She paved the way for me as 'mom', comforting me when she ran into obstacles.
No one will replace Barbara."
Current
CBS Evening News anchor
Norah O'Donnell said of Walters that she was "the reason I wanted to be a journalist" and "the only woman on television interviewing presidents, prime ministers, and the actors, authors, and entertainers." Most important in the world.
She inspired me."
Good Morning America
host
Robin Roberts tweeted that Walters was "a true trailblazer."
“Forever grateful for her stellar example and friendship,” added Roberts.
Christiane Amanpour, CNN International Anchor, wrote on Twitter: "Barbara Walters' tremendous work will not be repeated and her legend will remain firmly etched on the Mount Rushmore of our profession."
CNN's chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward called Walters "a force of nature, a trailblazer for women in this industry, and one of the most gifted interviewers of all time."
"You paved the way for all of us, dear Barbara," wrote CNN journalist Lisa Ling.
“What an honor it has been to know you and to have been the beneficiary of your titanic spirit and wisdom,” she added.
Margaret Brennan, CBS's chief foreign affairs correspondent and the second woman to host
Face the Nation
after Lesley Stahl, posted a message of thanks to the late host: “Thank you to Barbara Walters for leading the way for all of us to follow. ..”
"Barbara Walters a true GOAT [which means
Greatest of all time
, translated into Spanish as The best in history]," Gayle King, co-host of
CBS This Morning
, posted on Instagram .
“She was in a class of one and all I can say at this point is thank you Barbara for so many things…”.
Cynthia McFadden, legal and investigative correspondent for NBC News, said in an Instagram post that she will always remember Walters as a brave woman.
"Every woman in the world of radio and television has benefited from her thick skin and brave heart
," McFadden wrote.
"Imagine being told that she couldn't ask a question [on TODAY] until the male co-anchor had asked three."
"This is my legacy"
Led by Oprah, 25 female journalists influenced by Barbara Walters say goodbye to her during her final appearance as co-host on 'The View' in 2014.Ida Mae Astute/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images file
Walters seemed to agree that her crowning achievement was the door that opened for women in journalism and the many who followed.
On Walters' last show on
The View
in 2014, Oprah hosted a surprise parade of women journalists—including Sawyer, Couric, Guthrie, Kotb, Vieira, McFadden, and others—who took the stage to thank Walters for paving the way. of your success.
After hugging the women one by one, Walters took the microphone and turned to the audience.
“I just want to say that this is my legacy,” he said.
