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The Weekly World News was a tabloid magazine that ran from 1979 to 2007. It was published by American Media, which also publishes the National Enquirer and various other tabloids. WWN was printed in black and white, and was notable for being one of the few major U.S. newspapers that continued to use a black and white press long after sister magazine the National Enquirer had switched to color.
A typical Weekly World News story involved some off-beat, skewed subject matter such as alien abductions (and the subsequent demise of the planet), reports of the Loch Ness monster or Bigfoot, or predictions of an impending depression or apocalypse. Time travel and lost prophecies were also common topics, as were religious relics such as sandals worn by Jesus or a copy of the Ten Commandments found in a cave in West Virginia. In addition, the tabloid would often report on new discoveries related to the Bible (e.g., a cave in Colorado with relics from Noah’s Ark or the Garden of Eden), or interviews with demons like Sisyphus after he finished his eternal boulder-hauling “workout.”
In addition to the main anchors, the World News Now cast frequently featured guests who were either experts on the subject or had a funny story to tell. The show also had a segment called Morning Papers, which featured several off-beat or humorous articles taken from newspapers around the globe. Occasionally, the anchors would check in with ABC news producers at local affiliate stations during an important breaking story (for example, a blizzard in Buffalo, New York). When a full-time anchor left the program, he or she was honored with a cardboard cutout of themselves placed in the rafters of the World News Now studio.