In Memoriam 2022: Barbara Walters (1929–2022) Tribute List

Barbara Walters was an American broadcast journalist from 1951 to 2015, during which time she hosted numerous television programs: Today, the ABC Evening News, 20/20, and The View. A pioneer for women in broadcasting, Walters became the first woman to co-host NBC’s Today show and the first female co-anchor of network evening news on ABC. She set herself apart by her highly effective technique in television interviews of world-renowned figures, including every sitting U.S. president and first lady from Richard and Pat Nixon to Barack and Michelle Obama. Later, Walters created, produced, and co-hosted The View, a trend-setting daytime talk show. Recipient of several television awards, this tribute list summarizes her career with newspaper, news, and biography articles.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. diverse
    distinctly dissimilar or unlike
    For more than five decades, Walters was a name to reckon with, whether speaking with world leaders on news programs, in celebrities' homes for her regular "Barbara Walters Specials" or on "The View," a daytime talk show in which a diverse panel of women discuss the latest headlines.
    – CNN
  2. correspondent
    a journalist who supplies stories for news media
    The following year she joined the ABC newsmagazine show 20/20 as correspondent, becoming cohost with Downs in 1984; she remained with the program until 2004.
    – Britannica
  3. tenacious
    stubbornly unyielding
    A tenacious pursuer of elusive figures in the news, she obtained exclusive interviews for her popular Barbara Walters Specials, which premiered in 1976.
    – Britannica
  4. endeavor
    a purposeful or industrious undertaking
    Her most recognizable endeavor was as co-creator and co-executive producer of The View, which she cohosted for more than two decades before retiring in 2014.
    – Us Magazine
  5. dominate
    be larger in number, quantity, power, status or importance
    Barbara Walters, the trailblazing television news broadcaster and longtime ABC News anchor and correspondent who shattered the glass ceiling and became a dominant force in an industry once dominated by men, died Friday.
    – ABC News
  6. strategic
    highly important to or an integral part of a plan of action
    After the events of Sept. 11, you seem to have made a strategic and historic choice to become much closer to the West, to the United States. This could be a risk for you here at home, where not everybody wants you to be that close. Why did you do it?
    – Putin Interview, 2001, ABC news
  7. deftly
    in an agile manner
    She became known for her deftly maneuvered questions, often catching her subjects off guard and revealing uncommon candor.
    – Biography
  8. candor
    the quality of being honest and straightforward
    She became known for her deftly maneuvered questions, often catching her subjects off guard and revealing uncommon candor.
    – Biography
  9. attribute
    explain or regard as resulting from a particular cause
    Her success has been attributed to her relentless effort to get the "first interview" from a wide range of people, an uncanny ability to ask the questions the public would most like to hear, and her ability not to alienate the people she interviews.
    – Biography
  10. uncanny
    surpassing the ordinary or normal
    Her success has been attributed to her relentless effort to get the "first interview" from a wide range of people, an uncanny ability to ask the questions the public would most like to hear, and her ability not to alienate the people she interviews.
    – Biography
  11. misconception
    an incorrect assumption
    "I think the biggest misconception about me, before 'The View,' is that I was very stern and very authoritative," she says.
    – San Francisco Bay Area News
  12. authoritative
    having ascendancy or influence
    "I think the biggest misconception about me, before 'The View,' is that I was very stern and very authoritative," she says.
    – San Francisco Bay Area News
  13. tumultuous
    characterized by unrest or disorder or insubordination
    One of Walters's biggest scoops came in 1977 when she convinced Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to sit down for their first joint interview during one of the most tumultuous times in their countries’ relationship.
    – The Daily Beast
  14. paparazzo
    a freelance photographer who pursues celebrities
    Whenever Michael Jackson sits for a TV interview, the result is a captivating concoction of circus-strange, heartbreaking, hilarious, and ceaselessly interesting. That was true of Walters's 1997 conversation with the King of Pop, which covered the role of paparazzi in his life and his reaction to the death of Princess Diana.
    – The Daily Beast
  15. ingratiating
    capable of winning favor
    Highly personable and ingratiating but with a tough core, Walters withstood critiques about the softness of her interrogatory style with celebrities and sometimes major political figures as well.
    – Variety
  16. interrogate
    pose a series of questions to
    Highly personable and ingratiating but with a tough core, Walters withstood critiques about the softness of her interrogatory style with celebrities and sometimes major political figures as well.
    – Variety
Created on January 2, 2023 (updated January 23, 2023)

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