35 Years Ago Today, Barbara Walters Became the Nation’s Highest Paid Journalist

By Chris Ariens 

35 years ago today Barbara Walters became the highest paid journalist when she was named co-anchor of the ABC Evening News. From the Jewish Women’s Archive:

On October 4, 1976, Barbara Walters became the first woman co-anchor of a major network evening news program. Joining Harry Reasoner, on the ABC Evening News, she became the highest paid journalist, male or female, up to that time. Reasoner, however, made it clear that he did not want to work with a co-anchor, and Walters only stayed with the show for a year and a half.

After the pairing failed, Reasoner returned to CBS News and “60 Minutes.” 35 years later, Walters is still with ABC News, hosting the occasional special or interview. But these days she puts most of her effort into “The View.” She is pictured, above, yesterday at the ABC News/Yahoo announcement with former CBS Evening news anchor Katie Couric and the current anchor of ABC’s evening news, Diane Sawyer.

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(h/t Romenesko)

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