To provide a background against which news and other information about world affairs will become more meaningful, this pamphlet describes the processes through which the mass media provides world affairs information to the public. It also discusses how various groups in the population make use of the information that is made available to them. The American definition of news differs from that in other parts of the world. What the United States and industrialized democracies of Europe and the Far East call international news represents a crazy-quilt pattern of information about what is happening abroad mixed with reports about domestic reactions. The news media of the Communist countries offers a sharp contrast. It serves the interests of the Communist Party and has no interest in reporting events irrelevant to or not in accord with official policy. In covering foreign news, correspondents make routine use of at least seven kinds of sources: officials; unofficials; diplomats; local journalists; the opposition; the man and woman in the street; and nongovernmental; and international sources. The information collected then goes through a winnowing or selective process. Much of the information is discarded. Judicious use of supplementary sources, combined with attention to television, radio, and newspaper reports, makes it possible for those who are interested to build up a more complete picture of world affairs than has ever been possible before. One important study concludes that "American media coverage of international news is among the best in the world and may be better today than it ever has been." (Author/RM)