Deborah Norville is ‘swimming in gratitude’ after 30 years at ‘Inside Edition’

“Inside Edition” will use guest hosts until a replacement anchor is named.

“Yesterday during a satellite tour with local TV stations, a young woman said I was the reason she became a journalist,” Norville said. “That just stops you cold. There’s no higher compliment that what you do every day can inspire someone to take up your life’s work.”

She was especially proud of her work during the COVID-19 pandemic. “When the world turned upside down, we kept going,” she said. “We created a studio in my house with a green screen. We didn’t have the graphics but had the content people needed during all that confusion. We tried to be like what Mister Rogers’ mother told him, the idea of being the helpers to give us hope during difficult times.”

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Norville grew up in Dalton and graduated from the University of Georgia with a journalism degree. She interned at Georgia Public Broadcasting before working as a reporter at WAGA-TV, then a CBS affiliate, from 1979 to 1982. After five years at a Chicago TV station, she joined NBC News and moved up quickly to become co-anchor of “Today.”

But that job only lasted a year and she was replaced by Katie Couric.

Norville moved to CBS News, working on newsmagazines like “Street Stories” and “48 Hours,” then as a correspondent and fill-in anchor of “CBS Evening News.” But when she became pregnant with her second child, she wanted a job that didn’t involve living out of a suitcase.

“Inside Edition,” seeking an anchor replacement for a pre-Fox News Bill O’Reilly, was the answer.

“If I had stuck around with CBS News, I don’t know if my marriage would have lasted and I wouldn’t have been the mom I aspired to be,” Norville said.

Credit: INSIDE

Credit: INSIDE

Although “Inside Edition” was considered less prestigious than CBS News, she helped shepherd the news coverage away from “Hard Copy”-style tabloid fodder and more news you can use, investigative pieces and People magazine-style feature segments.

“We’ve never had the resources of the big network news shows so we hunt for the human interest angles,” she said. “We go off main street and hit the access road for stories.”

During the recent tornadoes in the Midwest, for instance, “Inside Edition” covered a wedding in St. Louis that went on despite damage from a nearby tornado. “That’s ‘Inside Edition,’” she said. “Finding joy in the midst of tragedy.”

In her early years, “Inside Edition” didn’t always prioritize work/life balance. In 1988, when she had her third child, Mikaela, earlier than expected, a frantic executive producer convinced her to anchor from the hospital.

She then went on a book tour, her infant by her side.

Credit: AJC

Credit: AJC

In recent years, as viewership on broadcast TV has fallen off, “Inside Edition” has pushed its YouTube channel, which now has 13.6 million subscribers.

Norville has also been happy to hit the road when necessary. She has attended every political convention since 1984. She covered the Oklahoma City bombings. She was in Washington, D.C., when the 9/11 attacks occurred. She has attended multiple presidential inaugurations, two papal funerals, King Charles’ coronation, Queen Elizabeth‘s internment and two royal weddings.

She continuously anchored a national news program longer than Dan Rather (24 years), Peter Jennings (22 years), Tom Brokaw (22 years) or Walter Cronkite (19 years). She was amazed when she heard her tenure at “Inside Edition” exceeded even Johnny Carson’s on “The Tonight Show.”

“This is a kid from Dalton, Georgia,” she said. “How did this happen? I’ll tell you how it happened. I was a reporter at WAGA 47 years ago. One of my colleagues looked at me and said, ‘You don’t belong here. You don’t deserve a job here.’ That has been a motivating phrase in the back of my mind since that day in front of the coffee machine.”

For her, the lesson is simple: “When someone underestimates you and doesn’t believe in your potential, you have a choice: You can accept their assessment of who you are or prove them wrong.”

If You Watch

“Inside Edition,” 11 p.m. weekdays on WPCH-TV in Atlanta, available in syndication on different stations nationwide