When you think of a female broadcaster, Katie Couric’s name likely pops into your head. She currently works as Yahoo’s Global news anchor. Her impressive resume includes 17 years at NBC News, 5 years at CBS, and 3 years at ABC News. At NBC, she was a co-host of the Today show, and at CBS, she was an anchor on CBS Evening News. Nowadays, she is a correspondent on 60 Minutes.
And what better thing to do with all your experience than to turn it into a book and inspire others? Couric is the author of several books. Her first book The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons From Extraordinary Lives, was a New York Times bestseller. She was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 2004 for her contributions to broadcasting. She amassed $75 million from her years of work.
Greta Van Susteren – $35M
Greta Van Susteren is another lawyer turned news anchor. In her long career, she worked as a TV anchor and commentator for several networks, including Fox News, CNN, and NBC News. During the O.J Simpson trials, she regularly appeared on CNN as a legal analyst. She also worked on CNN as a legal analyst from 1994 to 2002 and co-hosted with Roger Cossack on the program Burden of Proof. Beginning in 2002, she hosted “On The Record With Greta Van Susteren.”
She left the network 14 years later, in 2016. She then moved to MSNBC to host the program “For The Record With Greta” for six months. In 2015, Forbes listed her as the 94th most powerful woman in the world.
Meredith Vieira – $40M
Things are starting to heat up on this list. The journalist, game show, and talk show host, Meredith Louise Vieira, was one of the first co-hosts of the talk show The View on ABC. Vieira began her career long before she started hosting The View. In 1975, she started working as a news broadcaster for WORC radio in Massachusetts. She eventually made her way to CBS, where she gained recognition for her work from 1982 to 1984.
She worked as a correspondent for major shows like West 57th and 60 Minutes. She also worked as a co-anchor of CBS Morning News for a year. She eventually moved to ABC and was involved with a few shows before getting hired to co-host The View. She was on the show from 1997-2006. She left the honorable role to co-host Today from 2006 to 2011. She was also the original host of the show “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.” In 2014, she released her new program, The Meredith Vieira Show, which she hosted until its cancelation in 2016.
Diane Sawyer – $80M
In the number two spot, we have the woman who is widely considered to be one of the most successful female news anchors of all time. Diane Sawyer has been working as a broadcaster for more than 50 years. She is most recognized for her program, ABC World News. Her past resume includes co-anchoring ABC’s Primetime and Good Morning America. Besides her influential work on television, she worked as a member of Richard Nixon’s staff when he served as president.
In 1984, Sawyer was appointed as the first female correspondent for CNN’s 60 Minutes. She worked on the show for five years, during which the show consistently experienced high ratings. She has a net worth of $80 million.
Barbara Walters – $150M
Barbara Walters was one of the most famous anchors and probably the most famous female broadcaster of all time. She hosted TV programs since the early 1960s. She is most recognized for hosting the ABC Evening News, 20/20, The View, and Today. Her first big job was as a writer and segment producer for The Today Show. Walters was very likable, and she eventually got more time on the air and became a broadcaster.
She was most known for high-profile interviews. Her interview with Monica Lewinsky in 1999 attracted 74 million viewers, the highest ever for a news program. In late 2022, she peacefully passed away, leaving behind her a net worth of $170 million.