World news is a field of journalism that focuses on events outside the boundaries of a country’s national borders. Traditionally, the term has been used in a broader sense to include foreign policy as well as international conflicts, but many journalists and viewers make a distinction between it and “national” news, which tends to focus on events involving the nation’s government or its institutions (although even this is often considered a subfield of world news when dealing with subjects such as wars in which the United States participates). Journalists who specialize in world news are generally known as foreign correspondents.
Several television programs produce and broadcast news in this area. The most prominent in the United States is ABC’s Good Morning America First Look, which airs live Monday through Friday from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time, with its own version of world news, World News Now, running in a continuous tape delayed loop until local news begins.
In addition to the main program, some stations also run world news programs in a local format, usually branded as a tie-in with Good Morning America. These typically feature a combination of general news stories and odd features, such as the InsomniACTS music performance segment (where local jazz bands are invited to perform in a studio while the production credits are rolling) or the World News Now’s InsomniKitchen’ segments in which anchors visit a New York City restaurant for food ideas to cook at home during late night.
