Editing Inside Edition (section)

====David Frost and Bill O'Reilly era (1989-95)====
[[File:David Frost Rumsfeld interview cropped.jpg|thumb|[[David Frost]], first anchor of the program until February 1989]]
The program was created by John Tomlin and Bob Young, whose concept was picked up by [[King World Productions]] (which [[CBS Corporation]]—itself having acquired King World through its December 2005 split from [[Viacom (1952–2006)|Viacom]]—folded into CBS Television Distribution in September 2007; both CBS and Viacom would re-merge as [[ViacomCBS]] in 2019) in the winter of early 1988, for a debut during the 1988–89 television season. When ''Inside Edition'' first premiered in January 1989,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Koester |first=Megan |date=2016-06-07 |title=I Got All of My News From 'Inside Edition' for One Whole Week |url=https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/inside-edition-was-my-only-news-source-for-one-week |access-date=2025-02-07 |website=Thrillist |language=en}}</ref> the program's format originally took on a high-brow approach, focusing on general news and [[investigative journalism]]. 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.<ref>{{cite news |title='Inside Edition' Boss has Chilling News for David Frost |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yN4cAAAAIBAJ&pg=5000%2C1276209 |newspaper=[[The Pittsburgh Press]] |via=[[Google News]] |date=February 3, 1989}}</ref>

In February of that year, Frost was replaced as main anchor by [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] reporter [[Bill O'Reilly (political commentator)|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 journalism]]-style newsmagazines of the early 1990s on American television—alongside Fox's ''[[A Current Affair (American TV program)|A Current Affair]]'' and Paramount's ''[[Hard Copy]]'' – which fiercely competed with each other in syndication during that period (and is the only one that remains on the air). 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]].

An Australian version was produced by [[Network 10|Network Ten]] and was presented by veteran journalist [[Peter Luck]] and ran for two years.
[[File:Bill O'Reilly at the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia (cropped).jpg|thumb|307x307px|[[Bill O'Reilly (political commentator)|Bill O'Reilly]], host from 1989 to 1995]]
In September 1992, the program launched a [[spin-off (media)|spin-off]] newsmagazine, ''Inside Edition Extra'', which was co-produced by King World and then [[CBS]] affiliate [[WHDH (TV)|WHDH]] (Channel 7, now an independent station), which broadcast its parent series in the [[Boston]] market. [[Tom Ellis (journalist)|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.