Hard Copy is an American tabloid news television

Tabloid television

Tabloid television, also known as Teletabloid, is a form of tabloid journalism. Tabloid television newscasts usually incorporate flashy graphics and sensationalized stories.Often, there is a heavy emphasis on crime, stories with good video, and celebrity news...

 show that ran in syndication from 1989 to 1999. Hard Copy was aggressive in its use of questionable material on television, including gratuitous violence.

The original hosts of Hard Copy were Alan Frio and Terry Murphy; Barry Nolan

Barry Nolan

Barry Nolan is an American former presenter on Comcast Cable's CN8 channel, once hosting the shows Nitebeat and Backstage, and Backstage with Barry Nolan...

 joined the series in 1990 and stayed until 1998. In the show's final season, current KFMB

KFMB-TV

KFMB-TV is the local CBS television affiliate in San Diego, California. Its studios are located on Engineer Road in the Kearny Mesa area of San Diego along with its sister radio stations, AM 760 and FM 100.7...

 sports director Kyle Kraska took over as host.
In the late 1980s, as investigative news shows and daytime talk shows were changing their formats and style, Hard Copy was created by Metromedia Television

Metromedia

Metromedia was a media company that owned radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and owned Orion Pictures from 1986-1997.- Overview :...

 veterans Mark Monsky and John Parsons Peditto, who told original staffers that the idea was to "combine the stories of 20/20 with the production techniques of MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

." This would be the show's format at launch, but it was quickly abandoned due to ratings concerns.