AUSTIN, Texas – The biographer of the late legendary broadcaster Barbara Walters says the iconic newswoman would expect Vice President Kamala Harris to do more interviews ahead of the presidential election.
“I think Barbara Walters would be pursuing her,” author Susan Page told Fox News Digital in an interview at the 2024 Texas Tribune Festival. “I think pursuing her with the expectation that part of the job of being president is talking to Americans, and one of the ways you talk to Americans is through the news media.”
“She would expect both nominees to be doing interviews with serious journalists during a presidential campaign,” Page added.
Barbara Walters’ biographer tells Fox News Digital she would have expected Vice President Kamala Harris to grant more interviews as the presidential nominee. (Clarence Elie-Rivera/Getty Images)
Harris avoided taking questions from the press nearly 40 days since she emerged as the Democratic nominee before she finally granted an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash alongside her running mate Tim Walz.
Since then, she has only done two radio interviews. She has yet to hold a formal press conference.
Former President Trump, meanwhile, has sought to highlight the contrast in media availability between the two, granting several interviews, holding multiple press conferences and participating in a televised town hall with Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
Even following Tuesday’s presidential debate, Trump took questions from the reporters inside the spin room and has done additional interviews.
Vice President Kamala Harris has done far fewer interviews compared to former President Trump in recent weeks. (Getty Images)
Page, Washington bureau chief for USA Today and author of “The Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters,” spoke about what inspired her to write about the journalism trailblazer.
“For women journalists, no one has been a more iconic figure than Barbara Walters,” Page said. “That’s true for women in TV broadcast journalism, it’s true for women in print journalism, like myself, as well. And there was no real biography of Barbara Walters ever written, and I thought she deserved one.”
BARBARA WALTERS, JOURNALISTIC PIONEER, DEAD AT 93
USA Today Washington bureau chief Susan Page speaks at the 2024 Texas Tribune Festival on Sept. 5, 2024. (Joseph A. Wulfsohn/Fox News Digital)
Throughout her decades-long career, Walters repeatedly made history, first becoming the first female co-host of NBC’s “The Today Show,” later becoming the highest paid news anchor ever when she joined ABC News.
“If you grew up watching Barbara Walters, it wouldn’t occur to you that a woman couldn’t do big interviews, couldn’t interview presidents and prime ministers and despots and murderers, and it also wouldn’t occur to you that a woman couldn’t make as much money or more than her male colleagues,” Page said.
Walters died in December 2022 at age 93.
Fox News’ Brian Flood contributed to this report.
Joseph A. Wulfsohn is a media reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @JosephWulfsohn.
