National news is journalism concerned with matters that affect the entire nation. Examples include the weather, national security and politics. National news may be delivered by newspapers, magazines, television and radio. The internet has increased the availability of national news and has enabled citizens to gather their own information from multiple sources.
There are two subfields of national journalism: world news and local news. World news is a global version of national news, but it also includes the news from belligerent countries. Various journalists are involved in world news, including foreign correspondents (full-time reporters employed by a news source) and special envoys (sent on a short-term assignment to a specific country).
Local news is a smaller version of national news that provides information about a particular city or region. Some media outlets produce both local and national news, such as ABC and CBS television and The Washington Post newspaper. Local news is often delivered by local affiliates of national networks, such as the locally networked ITV news in Scotland and Ireland. Alternatively, some news services are run by a national company and broadcast a nationally branded product on each local station.
With the decline of local news outlets, people have become less informed about issues impacting their community. For example, they might be aware of the political debates in their state but not know how to get accurate information about their city government or crime statistics. The imbalance can lead to disengagement from civic life at the community level.