For the country and for the world, 2008 was a year in news that will not be easily forgotten. At the center was America's landmark election, which concluded amid a global economic downturn of a scale not seen in generations. There were also the attacks on Mumbai, carried out by a small group of militants who killed hundreds of civilians in their three-day siege. Armed conflict erupted between Georgia and Russia in the first weeks of August, rattling the international arena. A politically and economically emergent China hosted its first-ever Olympic Games.
Issues that received considerable media attention over the past twelve months included health care, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, religion's role in the political sphere, gay marriage, soaring gas prices, and global climate change. And the controversial presidency of George W. Bush entered its final days. (see our Bush Legacy News Hunt below)
To recap this remarkable year, NewsTrust editors have compiled a list of our top rated news and opinion from 2008. To qualify, each story had to have an average rating of 4.0 or higher and no fewer than ten reviews. We selected final entries from this short list on our special 'Best of 2008' topic page.
Our final selection -- of ten news and five opinion pieces -- was hand-picked by our editors from dozens of qualifying stories to reflect a wide range of sources, viewpoints and styles of coverage.Here they are, our editors' picks for NewsTrust's Best of 2008:
Best News of 2008
Preparing the Battlefield
New Yorker
An eroding model for health insurance
Los Angeles Times
As Georgia and Russia headed for a clash, the U.S. missed the signals
New York Times
Maverick Misleads
FactCheck
The Real Sarah Palin: An Apostle of Alaska
Newsweek
A case study in housing collapse
St. Petersburg Times
How will treasury pick which banks to save? Just trust them.
ProPublica
Serious error in Diebold voting software caused lost ballots in California county
Wired
Fuel prices challenge cars' reign
Washington Post
American Journalism Review
It's Time
Economist
A threat explodes in Georgia
Washington Post
Gay marriage: Our mutual joy
Newsweek
The war we don't know
The Nation
Love thy neighbor
Columbia Journalism Review
Here is a short list of our 'most trusted' stories on the 'Best of 2008' topic page.
For full listings of top rated stories this year (with 10 or more reviews), check these pages:
Top Rated News of 2008 (full
listing)
Top Rated Opinion of 2008 (full
listing)
Note: in some cases, we found that popularity and average ratings from
all members were not always the best indicators of a story's quality
and trustworthiness. Despite our best intentions, it appears that the
political perspectives of some members have influenced their assessment
of a story's journalistic quality. This reflects a natural tendency of
human nature to favor news and opinion that reinforce our own
viewpoints, and we have already begun taking steps to address this
deeply-rooted issue in coming months.
These findings underscore the
growing need for more news literacy education programs, to help each
and everyone of us balance our pre-existing beliefs against verifiable
factual evidence, not just opinion -- and help us make more informed
decisions as citizens. Managing trust in the digital age is a
formidable challenge, and we look forward to developing practical
solutions to address this long-term issue, hopefully with your help.
This Week: The Bush Legacy - Beyond the Beltway
(A partnership with the Washington Post)
This week on NewsTrust, we're joining forces with Washington Post columnist Dan Froomkin to find good journalism about the Bush Legacy, as covered by local and foreign publications -- "Beyond the Beltway."
For this Bush Legacy News Hunt, we're collecting a wide range of news
and opinion on the Bush era and its social impact -- as seen from outside Washington. Check our work in progress on our Bush Legacy topic page.
And take a look at Dan's column in Wednesday's Washington Post.
Can you help us find the best journalism on this topic? We’re looking to promote new voices
that haven’t been heard before (instead of Washington correspondents
and usual suspects from national publications and websites.) We want to
show the view from American and world citizens on what the Bush years
have meant for them.
Join our Bush Legacy News Hunt and help review some
recent stories. We encourage you to submit articles from your local
newspapers, magazines and community websites. We're
interested in any original news or opinion pieces that look back in a
thoughtful way at the consequences of this controversial presidency.
We'll post the results of this News News Hunt in next Wednesday's blog post.
Happy New Year!
by Derek Hawkins, with Kaizar Campwala and Fabrice Florin
(Pictured here from left to right are Derek Hawkins, Subramanya Sastry, Fabrice Florin, David Fox, Kaizar Campwala and Adam Florin. For more NewsTrust team photos, check out our Flickr photo stream.)
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