World news, international news or foreign coverage is the newspaper jargon for the branch of journalism that deals with events happening outside of the domestic boundaries of a country. This is a broad field that includes such topics as war (although war reporting is usually considered national for the media of belligerent nations), international business, global politics and other global issues. A world news reporter is usually a full-time correspondent stationed abroad or, less frequently, a journalist sent on a special assignment.
The history of world news goes back to the earliest days of journalism itself, when newspapers first began publishing. At this time most papers were foreign-language and only covered the events occurring outside of the local area. Even so, when the first telecommunication technologies – like the telegraph – were developed, many news agencies were set up to provide international news.
In the modern era of television news, world news is provided by the network television stations as well as by independent broadcasters. The main US networks – ABC, CBS, and Fox – each produce their own versions of a morning news show called World News Now.
This is generally a rebroadcast of the primary story package from that night’s episode of Nightline and occasionally of the political discussion program This Week. The show also includes the occasional rebroadcast of the primary news stories from other ABC news programs and a few other unique segments such as “InsomniACTS” (in which a local jazz band would be invited into the studio to play a number on-air) and “Morning Papers” which featured offbeat headlines from around the globe, most often accompanied by a picture or gif that came from a newspaper’s website.