ABC News says Walters is not retiring

NEW YORK, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- ABC News says U.S. broadcast journalist Barbara Walters was joking when she told President Barack Obama she plans to retire next year.

TMZ quoted a source whose name it did not report as saying Walters quietly told Obama after she finished chatting with him at the White House, "I need one more interview with you because I'm retiring next year."

The entertainment news Web site said Walters didn't make the statement on the air, but her microphone was live and numerous people heard the remark.

Jeff Schneider, senior vice president of ABC News, downplayed the story Thursday.

"Barbara has joked that she is retiring every year since the Clinton administration. Anyone who just did a day trip to Syria, 90-minute prime-time special and an interview with the president and first lady hardly sounds like someone retiring from anything," Schneider told TMZ.

Asked if Walters might have been using her retirement as a ploy to get Obama to sit for another interview, Schneider laughed and told TMZ, "She's one of the greatest bookers who ever lived."