Barbara Walters to Announce Retirement This May?

Deadline reports that long-time journalist Barbara Walters may be ready to hang her hat and announce her retirement. The site reports that a plan has been 'put in place' for Walters to announce the news this May.

The ABC broadcasting mainstay would be fetted by the network with a series of retrospectives, highlighting her 52-year career as a journalist. It remains to be seen whether she will opt for a full retirement or continue to make occasional appearances on ABC specials.

Walters recently took a leave of absense as host of ABC's 'The View' due to an accident and subsequent hospitalization caused by a bout with chicken pox. Her co-host on the show, Joy Behar announced last month that she plans to leave this summer while Elisabeth Hasselbeck's future on the morning chatfest remains uncertain.

Walters first became known as a television personality when she was a writer and segment producer of "women's interest stories" on the morning NBC News program The Today Show, where she began work with host Hugh Downs in 1962.

She eventually became the first female co-anchor of any network evening news, working with Harry Reasoner on the ABC News flagship program ABC Evening News. From 1979 to 2004, Walters worked 25 years as co-host and a producer for the ABC newsmagazine 20/20. From 1976 to 2010, she contributed as an anchor, reporter, and correspondent for ABC News, along with producing and hosting her own special interview programs several times yearly.

Beginning in 1997, she has created, and appears as co-host on, The View. In 1996, she was ranked #34 on the TV Guide "50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time."