ABC News Studios has a Barbara Walters documentary in the works, which will stream on Hulu in 2025. Imagine Documentaries is producing the project, and Jackie Jesko directs. 

ABC News Studios said, “This film will feature unaired footage from ABC’s extensive archives and interviews with people who knew and worked with the broadcast legend who paved a path in journalism unlike any other.”

Walters, a longtime figure at ABC News, died in late 2022. 

“Barbara left her indelible stamp not just on those of us who had the honor of working with her at ABC News but on the entire news industry,” ABC News senior executive producer David Sloan said. “With never-before-seen footage and interviews with those who knew her in her private and public lives, this film will shed new light on one of the most famous broadcasters of all time.” 

After working on NBC’s Today, Walters shifted to ABC News and was co-anchor on the evening newscast, a co-host on 20/20 and creator of the daytime show The View. 

The as-yet-untitled film will look at Walters’ role in the history of broadcast journalism and the example she set for women in the industry. It will also explore sexism, power and what ABC News calls “the price of ‘having it all.”

The documentary is produced by Imagine Documentaries for ABC News Studios in association with Latchkey Films. For Imagine Documentaries, the film is produced by Marcella Steingart, Bernstein, Justin Wilkes and Meredith Kaulfers. Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Betsy West are executive producers. For ABC News Studios, Muriel Pearson is executive producer and Sloan is senior executive producer. 

“Barbara Walters is the OG trailblazer of broadcast journalism,” Sara Bernstein, president of Imagine Documentaries, said. “Imagine Documentaries is thrilled and honored to be working with award-winning filmmaker Jackie Jesko, Oscar nominee Betsy West and the entire team at ABC News Studios on this project to share her inspirational life and career with a new generation.” 

Barbara Walters, a barrier-breaking news reporter and anchor, died Friday at 93.

Walters carved out a career as a pioneering newswoman, eventually becoming the highest-paid anchor on TV with the first $1 million contract.

She served as a co-host of NBC’s Today, co-anchor of ABC’s evening news, did high-profile, highly rated revealing interviews of newsmakers on 20/20 and created the talk show The View.

She retired from TV in 2014.

“Barbara was a true legend, a pioneer not just for women in journalism but for journalism itself,” Bob Iger, chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Co., said. “She was a one-of-a-kind reporter who landed many of the most important interviews of our time, from heads of state to the biggest celebrities and sports icons. I had the pleasure of calling Barbara a colleague for more than three decades, but more importantly, I was able to call her a dear friend. She will be missed by all of us at The Walt Disney Company, and we send our deepest condolences to her daughter, Jacqueline.”

Walters started working as a writer on NBC’s Today show in 1961. She became the show’s first female co-host in 1974.

Walters jumped to ABC News in 1976, where she became the first woman to anchor on an evening newscast, sharing a desk with Harry Reasoner. She broke records by signing a five-year $5 million contract. Three years later she became co-host of 20/20, ABC’s newsmagazine.

Walters’ famous Most Fascinating People specials started airing in 1994 and in 1999, 74 million people tuned in when she interviewed White House intern Monica Lewinsky about her affair with President Bill Clinton.

In 1997, she launched her talk show, The View.

Over a career that lasted five decades, Walters won 12 Emmy awards, 11 of those while at ABC News.

ABC News renamed part of its New York headquarters The Barbara Walters Building in 2014. 

"A pioneer in her field, she had the uncanny ability to make even the most challenging of issues easy to understand. As the first woman to ever co-host a network news program, she was a hero to many, and she paved the way for generations of broadcasters. A fixture on the news for decades, she helped keep millions informed about issues facing our world. She never shied away from asking tough questions of some of the world’s most interesting and controversial people," SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said of Walters. Walters joined AFTRA in 1954 and SAG in 1991.

"To be the first woman at anything speaks volumes to the strength and character of that woman, but to be the first woman in network news suggests a woman of intellect, tenacity and a fearless ability to uncover, confront and illuminate; in short, the one and only Barbara Walters," said Drescher. "She blazed a trail for many other women to follow, who can pursue the possible because Barbara Walters did it first!" ■

Investigation Discovery will team with veteran TV news personality Barbara Walters to create a new series focused on infamous political scandals.

The series, Barbara Walters Presents American Scandals, will premiere Nov. 2, Discovery Group president Henry Schleiff announced during the network's Television Critics Association Tour session Thursday.

“Journalist. Author. Television personality. In our lifetime, there is no other name more associated with headlines and stories that mesmerized readers and viewers than Barbara Walters. Indeed, only the incomparable Barbara Walters could deliver these original interviews and get the subjects to speak to her,” he said.

Schleiff also announced that the network will partner with iHeartRadio to develop a weekly news-driven radio series looking at headline-making cases.

The network will also team with the Southern Poverty Law Center for a new series And Justice For All focused on the diversity group’s case files, according to Schleiff.

Mediacom Communications founder, chairman and CEO Rocco Commisso was recently recognized for his humanitarian efforts, receiving top honors from the Ellis Island Foundation and his alma mater, Mount Saint Michael Academy.

Commisso, who has given generously to several private and public institutions over the years, was awarded the Ellis Island Medals of Honor, joining 100 other recipients including retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, talk show host Meredith Vieira, New York Yankees legend Mariano Rivera, U.S. Navy Admiral Mark E. Ferguson III, and Washington, D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier in a ceremony at the historic landmark on May 9.

The Ellis Island Medals of Honor were established in 1986 and rank among the most prestigious civilian honors in the country. The award recognizes individuals who share with those less fortunate their knowledge, courage, compassion, unique talents and generosity, all while maintaining the traditions of their ethnic heritage as they uphold the ideals and spirit of America. Past recipients include six U.S. Presidents; Nobel Prize recipient Elie Wiesel; Generals Norman Schwarzkopf, Colin Powell and Raymond Odierno; Hon. Hillary Clinton; Sen. John McCain; Muhammad Ali; Frank Sinatra; Barbara Walters; Mike Wallace; and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

Commisso was lauded for, among other things, providing college scholarships to 1,300 students nationwide.  During his remarks, Commisso described the struggles his family faced in war-torn Italy in the 1950’s. He thanked America for opening its doors to his father, a World War II prisoner of war, and for giving his family boundless opportunities to succeed by simply working hard, pursuing an education, and relying on self-initiative to get ahead.

On Thursday evening (May 14) Commisso is scheduled to be inducted into Mount St. Michael Academy’s “Legends of the Mount,” with five other alumni at a ceremony at the New York Athletic Club in Pelham, N.Y.  

Commisso, a graduate of the school in the 1960s, established the Rocco B. Commisso American Dream Fund at the school in 2014 to provide a number of scholarships to Mount students for the next 50 years.