Skip to main content

Journo Heros: "Today Girl"



Barbara Walters

Barbara Walters PhotoAfter reviewing 100 Outstanding Journalists in the United States in the last 100 years, I decided to research Barbara Walters who was a popular news anchor, television producer, and journalist. My main reason for choosing Barbara Walters was because she was one of the first women to break the gender barriers in the world of journalism. Barbara Walters is a pioneer for women entering the world of new broadcasting by becoming the first women to co anchor on a major news network evening program.

Background

Journalist Barbara Walters was born on September 25th,  1929 in Boston, Massachusetts. She landed her first job as an assistant at WRCA-TV, now WNBC. Eventually she moved to CBS where she wrote for the networks Morning Show. She continued to improve and began writing for NBCs Today Show. Walters began to start interviewing and after viewing First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, she gained a lot of attention and established a name for herself. Soon after she became a the first female co-anchor on the Today Show for 11 years. She was also the first women to earn a seven figure pay in journalism, her nickname soon became "Today Girl".

In 1997, Barbara Walters she premiered a mid-morning talk show that many know today, The View. In 2013 she retired however she continues to be a co-executive producer and co-host on the show.

Personality Journalism  

Barbara Walters is known for her interviewing style, which consisted of maneuvered questions that often caught people off-guard and revealed uncommon honest answers. Barbara redefined the art of personality journalism. She was known for being the first to interview those who the public want to here from. For example, Barbara was the first to to interview Christopher Reeve, who was a famous actor, after a horse-riding accident that left him paralyzed. She was often criticized for displaying personal emotion in order to pump up ratings. 

What made Barbara so much different than other journalists was that she allowed us to see the personalities of the people she would interview. Soon after the 9/11 attacks, she traveled to Saudi Arabia to interview Osama Bin Ladens brother and others Saudi middle class men and women. These interviews presented a different picture of the Saudi population and it effected how the world viewed them. 

Awards:

Overseas Press Club's highest award, President's Award, induction into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame,; the Lowell Thomas Award for a career in journalism excellence, Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Women's Media Foundation, Muse Award from New York Women in Film and Television,  Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and 34 daytime and primetime Emmy Awards.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Silence Dogood

Many of us know Benjamin Franklin for a list of groundbreaking finding such as electricity, bifocals, heat stoves, swim fins and many other inventions. However, what people don't realize is how Benjamin Franking changed journalism. Prior to class presentations, I never new Benjamin Franklin was even a journalist. I was shocked to learn that he even had his own newspaper. Benjamin Franklin changed journalism with the use of penn names. At 16 he started using penn name, Mrs. Silence Dogood, to publish his work in the New-England Courant, which was his brothers news paper. Ben Franklin would use many penn names throughout his life, each with a different personality. However, they all shared the same values and point of views. Mrs. Silence Dogoods opinions became very trusted among his readers and he eventually came out as the anonymous writer. Soon after Benjamin left Boston and traveled to Philadelphia where he created his own newspapers and continue his anonymous writing.  I le
1 comment
Read more

Journo Heros: Barbara Walters Presentation

For more information on Barbara Walters, below I provided a youtube video that I found very interesting. In this video you can also see the type of questions that she would ask people when interviewing them, which made her stand out from other journalists. I definitely recommend watching, in order to see the type of personality Barbara Walters has.
Post a Comment
Read more

The Civil War through Secondary Sources

In the 1850s, the American press played a significant role during the Civil War. This war was one of the most illustrated wars in history, thanks to the publications of newspapers and magazines. George W. Smalley As war spread spread across America, so did the spread of journalists. War reporting required journalists to rely on telegraphs, railroads, and horses. Unlike today, journalists had to go to extremes in order to get information to write about. For example, a writer for New York Tribune, George W. Smalley, who was unable to get access to a telegraph hand-wrote the story of the Battle of Antietam in 1862 on a military train from Baltimore to New York. The next day this story covered the streets of New York. The Telegraph The invention of the telegraph in 1844 was a monumental for the world of journalism. This invention allowed journalists to quickly edit and publish work, this became the first instance of timely news. Telegraph operators charged by the word, therefore
Post a Comment
Read more