Barbara Walters: Veteran TV Anchor To Retire

The 83-year-old is stepping down after a long and groundbreaking career that began in the male-dominated newsrooms of the 1950s. 

Veteran US newscaster Barbara Walters is announcing her retirement after a six-decade TV career.

ABC said she would step down from TV journalism next summer.
Until then, the 83-year-old will continue to anchor and report for the network, anchor specials throughout the year and appear on her daytime talk show, The View.
She will remain executive producer of the programme, which she created in 1997.
Walters has spent 37 years at ABC News, joining the network in 1976 to become the first female co-anchor on an evening news programme.

Three years later, she became a co-host of ABC’s 20/20 news magazine.
Before coming to ABC, she spent 15 years at NBC News, where she was a co-host of the Today show.
"I am very happy with my decision and look forward to a wonderful and special year ahead," Walters said in a statement.
"I do not want to appear on another programme or climb another mountain. I want instead to sit on a sunny field and admire the very gifted women - and, OK, some men, too - who will be taking my place."
ABC News president Ben Sherwood said: "There is only one Barbara Walters. We look forward to making her final year on television as remarkable, path-breaking and news-making as Barbara herself.
"We look forward to a year befitting her brilliant career, filled with exclusive interviews, great adventures and indelible memories."