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Barbara Walters will announce 2014 retirement tomorrow (Monday)

Good. She hasn't been a serious reporter in 20 yrs. She used to do great interviews and then she spent her time promoting her View gab show and being impressed with celebrities.
 
When was Baba Wawa a "serious reporter?" "What kind of tree would you be" is not Pulitzer-level reporting. Neither is the Today Show. Harry Reasoner was astute enough to see Baba for what she was and they called him sexist for it. If they'd paired him with Geraldo and he said the same things, he'd be a hero of the news business.
 
FredLeonard said:
When was Baba Wawa a "serious reporter?" "What kind of tree would you be" is not Pulitzer-level reporting. Neither is the Today Show. Harry Reasoner was astute enough to see Baba for what she was and they called him sexist for it. If they'd paired him with Geraldo and he said the same things, he'd be a hero of the news business.

Very good point. I did think some of her work in the 1980's was good, and she would even ask a penetrating question once in a while. But the last 20 yrs, forget it.
 
Wow. This news is second in importance only to the abdication of the papacy. I'm glad she gave us so much advance notice - this way we can begin to prepare ourselves emotionally for the day she's no longer on the air.
 
Maybe it's my age (27) but I never saw the big deal about her, when I look at her I see someone who is not that friendly and full of herself.. Wonder if this is really HER choice as she claims. What would be interesting if they changed the name of show, then I think that would void her contract with the show and she would no longer "Co-OWN" the show, Which would be a very smart move on ABC's part they get to keep ALL of the $$.
 
Barbara Walters probably deserves all the tributes and retrospectives she will receive over the next year for one major reason: She is one of the true pioneers in American broadcast journalism.

There were female reporters and correspondents at the networks before her (read: Pauline Fredericks, who began at ABC but is best known for her many years as the NBC News correspondent at the United Nations; and Nancy Dickinson, who joined NBC after briefly working at CBS in the early 1960's), but Barbara Walters became one of the first female "superstars" in television news.

In fact, many women who now work in the business got into it because of Ms. Walters.

Without Barbara Walters, it's possible that there would be far fewer women working in broadcast journalism today.

I had thought that maybe she'd even try to stay at ABC through the 2016 elections; but she can always briefly come out of retirement to do interviews for ABC with the two major-party 2016 nominees for President, and then to interview the winner just days prior to his/her taking office.
 
Joseph_Gallant said:
Barbara Walters probably deserves all the tributes and retrospectives she will receive over the next year for one major reason: She is one of the true pioneers in American broadcast journalism.

There were female reporters and correspondents at the networks before her (read: Pauline Fredericks, who began at ABC but is best known for her many years as the NBC News correspondent at the United Nations; and Nancy Dickinson, who joined NBC after briefly working at CBS in the early 1960's), but Barbara Walters became one of the first female "superstars" in television news.

In fact, many women who now work in the business got into it because of Ms. Walters.

Without Barbara Walters, it's possible that there would be far fewer women working in broadcast journalism today.

I had thought that maybe she'd even try to stay at ABC through the 2016 elections; but she can always briefly come out of retirement to do interviews for ABC with the two major-party 2016 nominees for President, and then to interview the winner just days prior to his/her taking office.

So, we have Baba Wawa to blame for all the paired Ken and Barbie TelePrompTer readers, and all the young bimbo mic holders with their nasal, schoolgirl voices. Well, we can also think Affirmative Action for hiring unqualified women who expect guys to "help" while they go flirt with the boss.
 
It's my opinion that while I believe Barbara Walters was miscast as a news anchor, she has strong talent as an interviewer and a feature reporter.
 
Joseph_Gallant said:
Barbara Walters probably deserves all the tributes and retrospectives she will receive over the next year for one major reason: She is one of the true pioneers in American broadcast journalism.

There were female reporters and correspondents at the networks before her (read: Pauline Fredericks, who began at ABC but is best known for her many years as the NBC News correspondent at the United Nations; and Nancy Dickinson, who joined NBC after briefly working at CBS in the early 1960's), but Barbara Walters became one of the first female "superstars" in television news.

In fact, many women who now work in the business got into it because of Ms. Walters.

Without Barbara Walters, it's possible that there would be far fewer women working in broadcast journalism today.

I had thought that maybe she'd even try to stay at ABC through the 2016 elections; but she can always briefly come out of retirement to do interviews for ABC with the two major-party 2016 nominees for President, and then to interview the winner just days prior to his/her taking office.

Pauline Fredericks and Nancy Dickinson were professional broadcast journalists who wouldn't have been caught dead doing the fluffy-trash interviews for which Barbara Walters became famous. If her legacy is that she made the world safe for brainless media cupcakes with massive egos to read the latest gossip while performing a nightly leg show, that's not something worthy of high praise.
 
SixtiesGuy said:
Pauline Fredericks and Nancy Dickinson were professional broadcast journalists who wouldn't have been caught dead doing the fluffy-trash interviews for which Barbara Walters became famous.

Then again, even Edward R. Murrow had to dabble in celebrity interviews if he wanted to keep his gig.
 
Pauline Frederick didn't do fluff.

Nancy Dickerson did.

Ed Murrow did Person to Person for the money (and had no qualms about sitting there with a pack of the sponsor's Pall Mall "famous" cigarettes next to him and smoking them on the air).
 
Joseph_Gallant said:
It's my opinion that while I believe Barbara Walters was miscast as a news anchor, she has strong talent as an interviewer and a feature reporter.




Yep, just remember her tree question. She had some good interviews in the 1980 but it went down hill quick after that
 
In all fairness, the "tree" question was asked of Katherine Hepburn in an entertainment interview, not a news interview.
 
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