In 1655, a series of events and conflicts on the continent received sustained coverage in the English press: the massacre of Protestants in the Piedmont valleys, war between Protestant and Catholic cantons in Switzerland, the new Pope's attempts to establish a general Catholic peace and the Swedish-Polish war. Taken together these conflicts seemed to carry significant implications for Protestantism internationally and raised the prospect of large-scale religious war. Journalists and pamphleteers linked English interests to those of Protestants abroad and assessed England's role in an international Protestant community. The increasing prominence of international news under the Protectorate has been interpreted as a diversionary practice or form of sleight-of-hand, a way to redirect attention away from domestic political issues and unpopular government actions towards less provocative items. The reduction of space devoted to domestic news coverage became particularly evident after Nedham cornered the newsbook market in October 1655 and added his second newsbook, Publick Intelligencer, which shared about half of Politicus's contents. Fewer news outlets and a proportionally greater emphasis on international news, it has been argued, helped make the period effectively ‘newsless’. Yet the weight accorded to international news suggests journalists, pamphleteers and readers viewed themselves not as isolated from, or unconcerned by, developments on the continent but as interested and engaged in European affairs.

Newsbooks were commercial publications, so clearly there was a market for international news. To establish the relevance of international news for English audiences, reports contextualized information and drew parallels to historical and current events. International news also afforded an important framework within which to promote and assess the Protectorate's Protestant foreign and imperial policies, notably the Anglo-Spanish war; this was particularly important since for much of the time the Jamaica colony was stagnant and the Anglo-Spanish war had little momentum. Journalists and pamphleteers turned to other conflicts to provide context for the war against Spain and promote its continuation. Rather than deflect attention away from provocative issues, then, newsbooks and pamphlets in fact highlighted controversial policies to justify England's imperial expansion, war against Spain and involvement in international affairs.