Inside Edition


Inside Edition is an American television newsmagazine that is distributed in first-run syndication by CBS Television Distribution. Having premiered on January 9, 1989, it is the longest-running syndicated-newsmagazine program that is not strictly focused on entertainment news. The program features a mix of hard news stories, entertainment news and gossip, scandals, true-crime stories and lifestyle features.
Since 1995, the program's weekday broadcasts have been anchored by Deborah Norville. Mary Calvi anchors the program's weekend editions and also serves as a substitute for Norville on the weekday broadcasts.

Overview

Format

Inside Edition is broadcast in two formats: the weekday edition is broadcast as a half-hour program and features a broad mix of news stories of various types and feature segments; a weekend edition is also produced, which also runs for a half-hour, and is composed of a selection of stories featured on the Monday through Friday editions the previous week. During major holidays occurring on a weekday, that episode may feature a format similar to the weekend edition but featuring a compilation of stories from past editions and occasionally features lifestyle-oriented stories in relation to certain major holidays ; from 2002 to 2012, certain episodes aired during the summer months also followed a similar format, mixing feature packages from past episodes introduced by the anchor of that day's broadcast with current news stories introduced by one of the program's correspondents from its newsroom.
The program is based at Studio 45 at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City, which houses its main newsroom and production facilities as well as the set for the broadcast. Some editions, however, are conducted from the program's West Coast newsroom in Los Angeles or on location at the studios of television stations which carry the program or from the sites of events which are being covered for the broadcast. Inside Edition is transmitted live via satellite at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time each Monday through Friday, with occasional updates to each broadcast being conducted to account for new story details or other timely news pieces, and to correct technical or script issues in the original live broadcast.
The program was among the first directly affected by the coronavirus pandemic on March 11, 2020 ; as the CBS Broadcast Center was closed after building personnel tested positive for COVID-19. For the first week after, Deborah Norville originated the program from her home kitchen and subsequently later shot remotely from her home, with contributions from the Los Angeles newsroom before being able to establish a dedicated virtual home studio with the entire staff working from home, as the Los Angeles base was also affected by a stay-at-home order.

History

The program was created by John Tomlin and Bob Young, whose concept was picked up by King World Productions in the winter of early 1988, for a debut during the 1988–89 television season. When Inside Edition first premiered in January 1989, the program's format originally took on a high-brow approach, focusing on general news and investigative reporting. The first anchor of the program was David Frost, who was demoted to a correspondent role after approximately three weeks, due to poor ratings under the original concept.
In February of that year, Frost was replaced as main anchor by ABC News reporter Bill O'Reilly. By then, the program had shifted towards a mix of tabloid crime stories, investigations and celebrity gossip. In point of fact, Inside Edition was one of the original "Big Three" tabloid-style newsmagazines of the early 1990s on American television – alongside Fox's A Current Affair and Paramount's Hard Copy – which fiercely competed with each other in syndication during that period. In addition to being one of the first American broadcasters to cover the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, O'Reilly obtained the first exclusive interview with murderer Joel Steinberg and was the first television host from a national current affairs program on the scene of the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
In September 1992, the program launched a spin-off newsmagazine, Inside Edition Extra, which was co-produced by King World and then CBS affiliate WHDH, which broadcast its parent series in the Boston market. Tom Ellis, who had previously served as an anchor at WHDH, served as host of the program. Unlike its parent show, Inside Edition Extra was not able to attain high ratings and was canceled at the end of the 1992–93 season; it would be replaced by American Journal, which went on to a longer five-year run.
In July 1994, O'Reilly began expressing a desire to leave Inside Edition. In March 1995, a little over six years after the show premiered, O'Reilly would leave the program.) Deborah Norville, who at the time was a weekend anchor for CBS News and who had previously been known for her brief stint as co-anchor of The Today Show on NBC, was chosen to take over.
By the late 1990s, as its similarly formatted syndicated competitors had already begun waning in the ratings, the program tweaked its format in an effort to retain viewers. While its focus continued to revolve partly around entertainment and crime stories, it also began phasing in additional hard news content as well as lifestyle and human interest features. In the late 2000s, as video sharing websites such as YouTube came into prominence, Inside Edition began incorporating viral videos in most broadcasts, either those in relating to a news story covered in that day's edition or, more commonly, humorous or amazing videos ; videos of the latter type are typically included in the "D" block which closes each broadcast.

Criticism

In the 1990s, Inside Edition was classified by the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism as "tabloid press" and a "pseudo news program".

On-air staff

Current on-air staff

Anchor