World news is a term that is used to describe news articles that have a broader scope than the news of a single country, city or town. This can include stories about wars and other conflicts in far-flung places or reports of events that have a global impact, such as natural disasters. World news is often the focus of a newspaper’s front page, although it may also be included in other sections or columns.
Some world news is real and reflects current or ongoing political events, such as wars, elections and major disasters. Other world news may be more speculative in nature and is intended to entertain or amuse. One famous example of this type of world news was the tabloid magazine Weekly World News, which was published in a black-and-white newspaper format from 1979 to 2007.
The paper frequently focused on supernatural topics such as alien abductions and sightings of Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster. It also ran articles about religious relics and other religious prophecies. Other WWN stories were satirical in nature, such as those claiming that the founders of the United States were gay or that Abraham Lincoln was crazy and that his ghost had been seen in the White House.
A reporter who specializes in reporting on world news is called a foreign correspondent. This type of journalist is usually stationed in a foreign city (often the capital of a country) and regularly files articles to his or her news editor. The foreign correspondent often relies on contacts in the local government, among members of the community and in the media to gather information for his or her stories.