Barbara Walters Isn't Just a Media Whore...

...she's an old fashioned whore as well. Now, I've been losing respect for Walters over the years but this latest just washed what was left completely away. Like a lot of other people my appreciation for Walters started to wane with her appearances on The View. Call my expectations high but a well respected journalist deciding to join a daily hen peck just struck me as wrong.

This woman was a ground breaker for women in media, she did some of the most memorable interviews in broadcast history. When she started doing The View I did try and watch a few times but I mostly saw otherwise intelligent women clucking away and simply couldn't stomach it. Over the years I did catch it on occasion when I saw a promo for an interesting guest but it was often painful to watch.

Then the cast DRAMAS started. I say cast because a panel would be more fun and hosts a little less trite than the reality of this daytime turd. Between TMZ and the other gossip rags as well as legitimate media on a really slow news day we were all treated to an inside look at the behind the scenes workings of the view. It was more than I really wanted to know. I can honesty say I was equally disgusted with the treatment of Star Jones (hate) and Rosie (adore) by Walters. She showed herself to be less of a journalist and more of a diva entertainment "personality". My respect dropped further encouraged by a series of softball puff interview "specials" when there was no sign of the woman who got THE INTERVIEW with Fidel Castro.

Now we have the new book out and Walters is revealing a thirty year old affair with a married man. One of the justifications for the inclusion of this tidbit in her book, given tonight on FOX News, was that times have changed. Sorry Babs a whore is a whore is a whore. Even thirty years later, I'm sure his wife agrees. Then as I watched a woman I used to respect justify whoring on cable news I had a terrible thought. What if all the disrespect and sniggering Walters received when working her way up in the news biz wasn't sexism, maybe it was deserved. Maybe they knew then what it took the rest of us decades to figure out. Barbara Walters isn't a talented journalist, she's just a whore looking to cash in. I'm disgusted and worse very disappointed.

May 9th Edited to add : Even though I don't like Star Jones I really admire her restraint this week. If someone went on national TV and said I was too fat to walk around my workplace I wouldn't just hit them in the press I'd hit them with my car.