The world news category covers international news stories, such as political developments in Europe or Africa; economic news from Asia; sports events happening overseas; and other foreign-related news. It is also a subfield of journalism where reporters are assigned to specific locations, typically the capital city of a country or sometimes an entire continent, and regularly file stories to their news editor. They gather information from local officials, the public and the media, as well as from direct experience in their chosen location. The term is most commonly used to describe a full-time, salaried reporter, but it can be applied to special envoys who are sent for a period of time to cover an event or topic in another place.
The term is also used to refer to an overlaid graphic of various world maps, with the most important current events highlighted. It is also the title of an overnight news program, originally broadcast each night on ABC (it was later renamed World News Now and then World News Tonight). WNN features both serious as well as off-beat stories, including a weather forecast for obscure or exotic places. It also includes a number of repurposed segments and news packages from other ABC News programs, often with lighthearted or irreverent tone.
During WNN’s early years, the anchors would check in with local ABC news producers to see what stories they were working on at their affiliates, and would often broadcast the first few minutes of an affiliate’s late-night local newscast when covering a breaking story (for example, during a blizzard in Buffalo, New York). During commercial breaks, a quiz show-style trivia question was flashed on the screen. WNN also featured a music performance segment called InsomniACTS, in which a local jazz band was invited into the studio to play a song on air. When a regular anchor left the program, they were honored with a cardboard cutout placed in the studio’s rafters, a practice that continues today as a tribute to past anchors.
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