Barbara Walters: Pioneer Woman

English: Barbara Walters at the Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark opening at Foxwoods Theatre, New York City in June 2011 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Barbara Walters wasn't the first woman to make her way into the world of broadcast journalism when she joined NBC's "Today" in 1961 as a writer.  Like many of her contemporaries, she was relegated to features, giving "a woman's view of the news", and asking questions of important guests only after the male interviewers had used up all the good ones.

Walters' career (and reputation) didn't really take hold until 1976 when ABC, which was desperate for any kind of foothold in the network news wars then dominated by NBC and CBS, made headlines and history by luring Walters away from "Today" (she was by then a co-host, the first woman to achieve that honor) to co-anchor its evening news for a then-stunning million dollars.  It did not go well.  Walters was paired with Harry Reasoner, who clearly didn't want her working there.

The network brass soon figured out that Walters was more of an interviewer than a news anchor.  So she scoured the world to question every world leader, celebrity and newsmaker she could get her hands on.  Depending on the question, Walters could be probing, silly, or succeed in getting her subjects to cry.  Hey, if you didn't do that, you weren't trying.

Walters and her style of interviewing have been criticized and lampooned for years, mot notably by Gilda Radner from the original "Saturday Night Live".  Her characterization of "Baba Wawa" was a revelation for those who were not aware or ignored the fact that Walters had a speech impediment.  Not that it made any difference.

For many years, whenever you turned on ABC, there was Barbara Walters.  She co-hosted the newsmagazine "20/20", mostly with Hugh Downs.   She interviewed celebrities and Oscar nominees on her prime time specials.  She's executive-producer and occasional co-host of "The View" weekday mornings.  And she remained a contributor to ABC News when the occasion called for it.

Now Barbara Walters, at 84, is retiring from television after a half-century.  ABC News is renaming its headquarters in New York for her.  But her real legacy lies in those who followed her.  Without Walters, there would be no Oprah Winfrey, Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric and countless other women in broadcast journalism.  Nor would there be a "Mary Tyler Moore Show", "Murphy Brown", Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Jane Curtin, and others who have portrayed journalists on TV and in the movies.  They all owe Walters a debt of gratitude.  And so do we.