International developments affect Americans lives dramatically. International travel and the growth of foreign student exchanges present opportunities to local papers to explain the world to their readers. With the growth of immigrant communities, world news matters more to local readers. Newspapers can diversify in the marketplace with international stories. Americans need context.
TV can t do it.
Publishing international news gives readers a more complete newspaper. There are many engaging stories beyond our borders. A lot of them have local and regional angles. A recent Pew Center poll showed that readers are more interested in international news than in sports or national politics. And this was with the narrow definition employed by the center s News Interest Index, which excludes stories in which the United States is directly involved.