The show involves four panellists, often comedians or journalists, who answer questions about events of the previous week, often leading to humorous and satirical exchanges.

The News Quiz was created by John Lloyd,[2] based on an idea by Nicholas Parsons.

[6] During series 97, running from August to October 2018, Jupp was absent due to filming commitments overseas, so show regulars Simon Evans, Susan Calman, Fred MacAulay, Bridget Christie, Jo Brand and Lucy Porter took turns in the host's seat.

[8] Series 100 had several hosts: Nish Kumar, Angela Barnes, Andy Zaltzman, Phil Wang, Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Zoe Lyons, Patrick Kielty and Andrew Maxwell.

[10] The programme is usually recorded in front of an audience on Thursday evenings at the BBC Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House in central London.

However, this has given way to a general free-for-all where panellists chime in with their own humorous and satirical remarks once the question has been answered.

Before the host announces the largely symbolic scores, the panellists read out statements from newspapers and other media which they find amusing.

[10] The News Quiz once also featured input from regular BBC newsreaders (or "hacks-neutral", as Alan Coren referred to them), but have been dropped as of the post-Covid episodes.

As of 28 September 2007, The News Quiz became downloadable as part of the "Friday Night Comedy" podcast feed for Radio 4.

[16] During Miles Jupp's tenure, an extended version of the show entitled The News Quiz Extra featuring an additional 10–15 minutes of material was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra in the week following the standard Radio 4 broadcast.