As widely known to the American public, world-renowned journalist Barbara Walters passed away on Dec. 30, 2022. 

Her death shocked the country as she was beloved by all and known for her fantastic work in the journalism industry. Her legacy as the first female anchor on a news channel will live on forever, and people will always remember her name.

Because of the impact that Walters had on so many, ABC produced a special highlighting her life called Our Barbara, which is available on Hulu. My dad watched the special not long after its release, and he told me that if I truly was a lover of journalism, I had to watch this special.

Our Barbara beautifully takes us through Walters’ life, beginning with her childhood. They depicted how she grew up with a showman as a father, which led her to grow up around some of the most famous performers of her time. They showed the relationship she had with her older sister, along with how well Walters took care of her. 

Following her childhood, ABC took us to the period of her life when Walters’ career was just beginning. As a woman during the late sixties and early seventies, it was truly difficult to gain respect from Walters’ male counterparts. ABC was able to highlight this facet of her career perfectly simply by showing clips of her on the air with her co-anchors, all of which were unnecessarily disrespectful to her. It shocked me what these men had the audacity to say on live television to their co-host, and ABC did not hesitate to shine light on it.

One of the aspects of Walters that was most famous and acknowledged by everyone was her interviewing skills. Walters was extremely persistent with her questions and was always able to get the best answers out of people. She had many different specials that she would do, such as the Oscars Special, where she would interview the Oscar nominees that were all the rage of the year. ABC worked to emphasize her talents by showing many different clips of her famous interviews where she never held back.

ABC also had a whole segment on the interview that everyone wanted, and the one that only Walters was able to get: Monica Lewinsky. This was the woman who had the alleged affair with former president Bill Clinton. Our Barbara showed many clips of the interview along with talking about the process of creating and narrowing down the questions Walters was going to ask her. It was truly fascinating.

For being released just two days after her passing, Our Barbara was wonderfully put together in such a short amount of time. There were interviews done by many of her close friends and coworkers, along with those who helped her career become what it is today. Along with that, they incorporated an interview done with Walters from 2014, so that we would still be able to hear her stories about her life throughout the special.

Barbara Walters has lived an incredible life that is more than worth acknowledging. Our Barbara did a phenomenal job encompassing Walters’ life and the legacy she left behind.