World news, international news or foreign coverage is a subfield of journalism that deals with events outside a country’s borders. Often, these are global affairs such as a war, a natural disaster, a treaty or summit. Traditionally, journalists who specialize in world news are called correspondents and are stationed abroad full-time for a newspaper, magazine or television network. Correspondents may also be called stringers and work freelance for many different companies at once, usually producing material for several news outlets that use a wire service to supply them with hard news or a story that has already been written by a reporter based on research or direct observation.
A common feature of WWN stories is the recounting of alien abductions or other supernatural occurrences. Other popular topics include time travel, predictions of impending depression or apocalypse and lost religious relics. The existence of certain mythological creatures is frequently reported as well, such as mermaids and griffins. One stock character of WWN news is Bat Boy, a half-bat half-boy discovered in West Virginia caverns who talks in an “audible three-dimensional language” and fraternizes with known women of politics, including Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton.
The Weekly World News (abbreviated WWN) was a tabloid newspaper that was published from 1979 to 2007. Its black-and-white covers and outlandish stories made it a pop-culture icon and the subject of parodies in music and the arts. The magazine had a number of notable editors, including founder Generoso Pope Jr and Eddie Clontz, who later co-founded the New York Daily News.
About the Author
