Alternating on a week by week basis with The Ombudsman, In the Present Tense was a magazine-style, international public affairs program, which dealt with a single subject each week. The programs included a wide variety of interview subjects to discuss the problem at hand. The seven shows covered the following subjects: the treatment or coverup of embarrassing international incidents, with the examples of the United States government's involvement in the Middle East and Spain; the energy crisis and the petroleum industry; the relations of the UK, its government, and its coal mining industry; the characteristics and effects of inflation; international economic disparities and their effect on the world food supply; the confrontation of the right and the left in French electoral politics; and the views of Israelis on war and peace.