A combative confrontation between President Trump, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer over exactly who is going to pay for the wall.
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Yes, it’s that time again.
We are rapidly coming to the end of the year; a time to reflect on the highs and lows of the year, the most memorable moments and moments we’d just as soon forget.
As you might have guessed, the year has largely been punctuated by the flamboyant actions of the present occupant of the White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave: President Donald J. Trump, considered by many as the Tweeter-in-Chief.
In keeping with his campaign promise, Mr. Trump plowed ahead with his proposal to build a wall on the southern border of the U.S. in hopes it would stop the flow of immigration from Central and South America. This contentious effort has met with stiff resistance particularly from the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, whose recent sit down with Trump quickly turned into an explosive exchange captured by television cameras and whirring photographers.
Aside from his rants against illegal immigrants, there has been a drip!…drip!…drip! atmosphere surrounding the President with the Robert Mueller investigation looking into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and related matters. The special counsel’s investigation has so far resulted in criminal counts against more than 30 people and three Russian entities.
Stay tuned!
2018, to be sure, will also be remembered for the continuation of the MeToo# movement (which actually began in 2017) a powerful nationwide crusade against sexual harassment and sexual assault, whose shocking allegations (thoroughly investigated) ended the careers of a number of influential newsmakers, including Charlie Rose and Matt Lauer. In September, comedian Bill Cosby was sentenced to 3 to 10 years in prison for sexual assault.
Sexual harassment allegations continued apace through the year, culminating in a contentious U.S. Supreme Court confirmation battle in which Brett Kavanaugh defended himself against sexual misconduct allegations dating back to his time in high school and college.
In October, Kavanaugh was narrowly confirmed (50-48) as the 114th Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
Picture of Hurricane Michael's wrath.
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One of the most destructive weather calamities of the year occurred on October 10, when Hurricane Michael made landfall at Mexico Beach, Florida, with packed winds of 155 mph and a minimum pressure of 919 mbar. It was reportedly the most intense hurricane to hit the mainland United States since Camille in 1969. By October 28, a total of 35 people were officially confirmed killed by the hurricane in Florida, with hundreds still unaccounted for.
Many news organizations spent a good part of October reporting the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi who was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. His tragic death sparked a diplomatic crisis for Saudi Arabia.
During the scorching hot summer, Apple Inc. the multinational tech company, achieved a remarkable milestone in becoming the world's first public company to achieve a market capitalization of $1 trillion.
And Canada scored a new high in June when they became the first major industrialized country to legalize cannabis for recreational use.
Not all the news of the year was gloomy. Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, after all, finally tied the knot, marrying American actress Meghan Markle in June. The ceremony was held at St George's Chapel, England, with an estimated global audience of 1.9 billion.
Boston Strong was strong again this year. The Boston Red Sox won their ninth World Series, deposing the Los Angeles Dodgers in 5 games. It was the Red Sox fourth World Series win in the 21st century.
Well, these were just some of the major stories of the year.
To get a sense of some other big stories of the year, I reached out to a number of news organizations and asked them which single story drew the most traffic to their respective websites.
What follows are the responses I received.
New York Times
The Most-Read New York Times Stories of 2018
Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal splashed with a major scoop, when it reported that Donald Trump lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 from his own personal funds before the 2016 election to silence her about allegations that she had sex with Trump in 2006.
CNN
The top story on CNN.com in 2018 was the breaking news on Midterm Election Night, with 29 million-page views.
Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain’s obituary was their second largest story of the year with 24 million-page views.
L.A. Times
It should come as little surprise that the Los Angeles Times most populated online story was their ongoing coverage of the Woolsey Fire, a destructive wildfire that burned in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, which destroyed 1,643 structures, killed three people, and prompted the evacuation Km of more than 295,000 people.
Fox News
A couple of the most widely viewed stories at FoxNews.com included Fox News star Charles Krauthammer revealing he had just weeks to live in an heartbreaking letter, which was read to viewers; along with a profile of Christine Blasey Ford, the Palo Alto University psychology professor, who accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct.
New York Review of Books
In an essay in the New York Review of Books, Holocaust historian Christopher Browning compares the heightened sense of nationalism under the Donald Trump administration to the rise of fascism in the interwar period.
New York Magazine
Three of the most read articles at NYMag.com, included "In Conversation: Quincy Jones" By David Marchese ; “Donald Trump Didn’t Want to Be President” By Michael Wolff; and their eye-popping feature on Anna Delvey, a Russian-German woman, who scammed her way through the fashion scene in Manhattan.
The Marshall Project
Since The Marshall Project, a nonprofit, nonpartisan online journalism organization focusing on issues related to criminal justice in the United States, shares content with a number of news outlets, it's impossible to determine just how many readers actually viewed their stories. But based solely on the traffic they received on their website, their most read single story was "The Volunteer," about Scott Dozier, a Nevada death row inmate who dropped his appeals and demanded to be executed. (He's still waiting.)
Weather.com
The devastating effects of Hurricane Michael drew the most traffic at Weather.com.
ProPublica
The highly controversial topic of migrant children being separated from their families at the border is examined more deeply by ProPublica, a non-profit investigative journalism news organization in their feature: “Listen to Children Who’ve Just Been Separated From Their Parents at the Border “.
PolitiFact
At Politifact, a nonprofit project operated by the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida (with offices in Washington D.C.), the fact-check of the claim that Trump's family separation policy was the same as Barack Obama's drew more readers than any other in 2018. The claim rated false.
Daily Beast
The most viewed story of the year at The Daily Beast, the popular online news and opinion website, focused on politics and pop culture centered on how an ex-cop rigged McDonald’s Monopoly Game and stole millions.
OpenSecrets.org
OpenSecrets.org, a non-profit, nonpartisan research group based in Washington, D.C., that tracks the effects of money and lobbying on elections and public policy, most read feature of the year dealt with Robert Mercer who backed a secretive group that worked with Facebook, and Google to target anti-Muslim ads at swing voters.
FBI.Gov
At FBI.gov, the most read feature of the year was their post about Samuel Little, a convicted killer linked to 90 murders.
Fortune Magazine
Fortune Magazine readers usually follow the money. So it's no surprise that the multinational business magazine's most-read story of the year on their website centered on a short news item about the House passing a $3.8 trillion tax cut, "Under the Fog of Kavanaugh, House Passes $3.8 Trillion More in Tax Cuts"
Food Network
The Food Network's most read feature was "30-Minute Dinner Recipes"
Travel Network
The Travel Channel drew the most traffic with "10 of the World's Most Underrated Destinations."
MLB
Finally, "Starters and rosters for 2018 All-Star Game Astros, Indians, Red Sox lead way with 5 picks; Braves atop NL with 4'' was the top choice with readers at MLB.com for 2018
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Social Media: Year-in-Review
Google Year in Review 2018: Search Trends
Twitter: Biggest Tweets of the Year
Facebook’s 2018 Year in Review
Happy Holidays!
–Bill Lucey
December 13, 2018
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