Its reportorial teams are tasked to gather news from every major beat in the Greater Manila Area as well as nearby provinces.

Launched on June 1, 1970, it became one of the most watched English language newscasts on Philippine TV alongside The World Tonight of ABS-CBN and The Big News of ABC (now TV5).

Prior to 2008, it produced some spin-offs such as: On July 3, 2000, NewsWatch made its one-year absence on television due to low ratings because of the premiere of the network's only Filipino-language late-afternoon newscasts RPN Arangkada Xtra Balita and late-night newscast Primetime Balita.

But Primetime Balita was replaced by RPN NewsWatch Now and returning its English-language news reporting on August 20, 2001, until its final broadcast on March 9, 2007.

It was anchored by the network's president and chief executive officer, former Defense secretary and senator Orly Mercado and the News and Public Affairs department manager Marigold Haber-Dunca.

Because of Mercado's environmental advocacy, the background was adorned with plants On January 14, 2008, its late-night spin-off was aired as RPN NewsWatch Second Edition.

On October 11, 2008, another version was premiered, entitled RPN NewsWatch Junior Edition with the contestants of the show anchoring it.

It is currently airing archives of public affairs content through RPTV (the terrestrial successor channel of the former, jointly run by RPN/Nine Media and TV5 Network), and as primetime block on its sister station Aliw Channel 23 since August 12; on July 3, 2024, NewsWatch Plus announced that it would produce new episodes for its programs and provide access to CNN Philippines archives for subscribers.