Historically, the world news has been an important and profitable part of most newspapers. The concept began with the courants of the 17th century in western and central Europe, which used a combination of telegraphy and regular mail to report international news to local audiences. The emergence of national and international news agencies in the 19th century led to the development of hard and soft news stories that could be distributed throughout the world quickly and economically.
World news is generally presented with a focus on the serious, although offbeat features have also been included. These have included the World News Polka (usually performed on an accordion by comedian Barry Mitchell) and a segment where the World News Now staff guesses how much a celebrity weighs.
The program often replays story packages from other ABC News programs, and has been an apparent training ground for new announcers who have gone on to higher-profile positions with ABC and other network affiliates. The show has also been notable for pioneering interactive segments that allowed viewers to submit questions via email for the anchors.
Despite its prominence on ABC, World News Now is not carried by all ABC stations. For example, KTWO-TV in Casper, Wyoming and WVII-TV in Bangor, Maine both preempt the program to run a simulcast of the cable home shopping channel Jewelry Television. However, these stations resumed carrying World News Now once their syndication contracts expired. Similarly, WLNE-TV in Providence, Rhode Island preempted the program to air an over-the-air version of the syndicated children’s programming block Litton’s Weekend Adventure, but returned to carrying World News Now in September 2011. WOAY-TV in Oak Hill, West Virginia, also carries the show, but runs America This Morning instead of its own locally produced morning newscast.