National news refers to news stories that affect the entire country as opposed to local news, which is more focused on community events and crime reports. National news covers political issues, major disasters and other nationwide subjects. It is typically portrayed as more serious than news on local events and often includes opinions from experts in the field.
Many cable and satellite television providers offer national news channels. CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC and ABC News are among the most popular. Most of these channels focus on political issues and provide opinionated commentary from several sources.
Local broadcasters often produce their own national news, as well. They may also have an in-house news division or partner with an international news agency to cover national or world news.
Some of the most well known and respected news outlets include Reuters, NBC News and The New York Times. Other notable sources of information include the United Nations and the Associated Press, which are both international news agencies.
The Weather Channel is the market leader in weather forecasting and is a nationally distributed cable network. It originally focused entirely on news coverage and weather forecasts, but has since reduced the amount of its programming dedicated to those topics in favor of reality television shows and documentaries (which led to some cable providers defections in the early 2010s).
Business news networks have expanded to include FBN, which was launched in 2007 by News Corporation, and Cheddar, a fast-growing business news channel that is available from multiple providers. In 2022, Bloomberg TV was added to the lineup, becoming one of the most prominent new national news outlets in recent years.