Deborah Norville, a veteran journalist and the longest-serving female anchor on American television, ends her 30-year tenure as host of the syndicated newsmagazine Inside Edition on Wednesday.
Norville, who joined the show in March 1995, announced her departure on April 2, 2025, during a broadcast, citing personal and professional aspirations that continuing at Inside Edition would not allow.
She declined a “lovely offer” to stay, stating, “There are things I’d like to do and places I want to do them that continuing here doesn’t permit.”
Her exit marked the end of an era for the program, which she helped elevate to a top-rated syndicated newsmagazine, averaging 3.6 million daily viewers.
Norville’s run on Inside Edition began after stints at CBS News and NBC’s Today show, where she faced challenges, including a controversial exit from Today in 1991 while on maternity leave. Joining Inside Edition, then viewed as tabloid television, was seen as a risky move, with critics like Washington Post’s Tom Shales claiming she was “selling her credibility.”
Norville countered that her credibility stemmed from the quality of her work, not the network logo, and she transformed the show’s reputation by focusing on stories with audience value, such as consumer safety and investigative reports. A notable example is an Inside Edition story credited with promoting a choking prevention device, linked to a thousand uses.
During her tenure, Inside Edition evolved from tabloid-style content to a mix of entertainment, true crime, lifestyle, and breaking news, remaining the only first-run syndicated show to stay in production during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Norville’s leadership boosted ratings by 15% upon her arrival, and the show maintained strong viewership and a robust social media presence. She appeared in over 3,350 episodes, covering events like the September 11 attacks, Pope John Paul II’s funeral, and Hollywood red carpets, while earning two Emmy Awards and the 2024 Edward F. McLaughlin Lifetime Achievement Award from the Broadcasters Foundation of America.
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