HISTORY’s Moment in Media: Barbara Walters' Made Headlines on the Evening News

The announcement became a huge media splash not only because Walters was to deliver serious news at a time when most men thought women should stick to lifestyle coverage but because of the record salary Walters would command amp160She was to be paid 1 million a year for five years Much to her distress the media dubbed her the quotmilliondollar babyquot amp160In the photo from 1976 above Walters is pictured with Reasoner left and Howard K Smith another ABC News anchor and commentatorWalters said she took the job not for money but because it was a milestone for women39s rights amp160At first she regretted it in the short run the promotion turned out to be pure miseryamp160amp160Problem No 1 was that Reasoner could barely contain his displeasure at having a female coanchor amp160He actually threatened to quit when he heard Walters might be coming to ABC amp160Asamp160he dismissively sniped to Newsweek quotI was with her on Nixon39s China trip but I never actually saw her work All I know about her from that trip is that she rides a bus wellquot amp160Reasoner didn39t quit but worse he made it clear every night on air that he thought having Walters at his side was beneath himThe dismissive behavior occurred even though Walters was no newbie when ABC hired her amp160She was a 47yearold television journalist who had risen through the ranks to earn her stardom amp160She had started as a writer and researcher on NBC39samp160Today in 1961 and moved up to go on air as the quotToday Girlquot amp160The position was designed to handle lighter feature stories rather than news and had been held by Florence Henderson and Lee Meriwether who would both eventually become actressesBut Walters took the job seriously and cultivated her own reports and interviews amp160She also had a great rapport with the show39s host at the time Hugh Downs amp160When Downs left she rose to act as virtual cohost with Frank McGee amp160Virtual because despite having the work she was not officially given that title until McGee died in 1974In March of 1976 however Walters was wooed by ABC News amp160The network had been rising in the ratings across every department and wanted to bring its thirdplace news along amp160In her memoir Audition Walters insisted it was not so much the money she was being offered after all she was making nearly as much at NBC amp160but the prestige of breaking the gender barrier on the evening news amp160She was told executives would expand the broadcast from half an hour to an hour to give her plenty of room to do the bigpersonality interviews that were becoming her trademark amp160ABC in the end reneged on the extra half hourBut that October Walters did debut with Reasoner as coanchor amp160She landed two big interviews one with the Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and with the Israeli Prime Ministeramp160Golda Meiramp160 At first the show was a huge ratings success but over time the ABC Evening News remained mired in third place among the networks39 nightly news broadcasts amp160Walters says this caused Reasoner to turn further against her amp160Their onair chemistry became visibly hostile amp160He once even recoiled when she brushed his arm amp160The press was having a field day reporting on their strained ties amp160She felt alone and miserableAll that kept her going during those dark years Walters wrote were the letters she got from thousands of women across the country who had sensed Reasoner39s antagonism and wrote in with stories of their own experiences with discrimination amp160She also got a telegram out of the blue that she said made her feel like the cavalry wasamp160coming to her rescue amp160It read quotDon39t let the bastards get you downquot and it was signed quotJohn WaynequotWalters did hang in there amp160Eventually Reasoner left for CBS and Walters got a series of primetime ABC specials for interviews with big newsmakers and became cohost of the network39s newsmagazineamp1602020amp160 Her ratings were unbeatable amp160The milliondollar baby turned out to be worth every pennyClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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HISTORY’s Moment in Media: Barbara Walters' Made Headlines on the Evening News

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HISTORY’s Moment in Media: Barbara Walters' Made Headlines on the Evening News

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