Legendary broadcaster Oprah Winfrey is to join CBS’ news magazine programme ’60 Minutes’ as a special contributor later this year, according to the show’s executive producer Jeff Fager.

The 63 year old talk show host, producer and philanthropist will join the ’60 Minutes’ team for the first time in the autumn of 2017, CBS News announced on Tuesday (January 31st).

“There is only one Oprah Winfrey,” Fager said announcing the addition of Oprah to the team. “She has achieved excellence in everything she has touched. Her body of work is extraordinary, including thousands of interviews with people from all walks of life. She is a remarkable and talented woman with a level of integrity that sets her apart and makes her a perfect fit for ‘60 Minutes.’ I am thrilled that she will be bringing her unique and powerful voice to our broadcast.”

Oprah WinfreyOprah Winfrey will be joining '60 Minutes' later in 2017 as a special contributor

’60 Minutes’ remains the highest-rated news programme in America, averaging 14 million viewers every week, even 49 years into its history. However, Oprah’s name will add some much-needed star heft to the programme, which has lost beloved correspondents Morley Safer and Bob Simon, who both died in the last year.

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“I’ve been a big admirer of ‘60 Minutes’ since my days as a young reporter,” Winfrey said in her own statement.

“I’m so excited and proud to join forces with this historic news program, which for me represents the bastion of journalistic storytelling. At a time when people are so divided, my intention is to bring relevant insight and perspective, to look at what separates us, and help facilitate real conversations between people from different backgrounds.”

Oprah was, of course, the presenter of her own nationally syndicated talk show programme ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ for 25 years until 2011, the highest-rated TV show of its kind ever. She also founded Harpo Productions, which brought through the likes of ‘Dr. Phil’, ‘The Dr. Oz Show’ and ‘Rachael Ray’.

She has donated more than $500 million of her own money to various causes and charities in her life, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama in 2013.

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