Complete list of 2020 stories

In 2020 I had 244 bylines on CNN.com. I used this list of every single story to choose the most memorable ones. This is in reverse chronological order, from December back to January…

Experts warn about the radicalizing power of right-wing media networks

A day of news that captured the best and worst of 2020

Mark Shields, political analyst on PBS ‘NewsHour,’ is stepping down after 33 years with the network

Disney+ announcements are an ‘earth-shaking’ development in the streaming wars

As Covid-19 deaths hit a numbing record, ‘our hearts and our minds block out the enormity of it’

Taxpayer-funded news outlet Voice of America subjected to more leadership turmoil

Newsmax TV scores a ratings win over Fox News for the first time ever

The end of the Trump era has the cable news wars heating up

MSNBC is getting a new president, the first Black person to run a major cable news network

Biden’s media diet: Newspapers, magazines, books, and Apple News

‘No fake news:’ Biden and Harris sit down for a ‘very normal’ interview with Jake Tapper

Covid-19 is a ‘split screen’ scenario heading into 2021. Here’s how the news media should cover it

‘Firehose of falsehood:’ How Trump is trying to confuse the public about the election outcome

Reporters and media executives give thanks for family, the First Amendment, essential workers, and turkey

Fox News staffers thought Newsmax was a joke. But they’re not laughing anymore

Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham start to adjust to the reality of a Biden presidency

Biden aides fill the void on TV while Trump remains off the air

Election denialism is a middle finger to democracy

Post-election media coverage reveals two Americas on parallel tracks

Obama’s highly anticipated book ‘A Promised Land’ sells 890,000 copies on its first day

Two weeks after the election, far-right TV shows are providing false hope to Trump fans

Obama’s book tour doubles as a warning about ‘deeply divided’ media landscape

The Trump-Fox News relationship is coming to a head. Here’s what might be coming next

The President hides from the public and fights for a job ‘he has no apparent interest in responsibly performing’

Trump voters are flocking to a TV channel that claims Biden is not president-elect

Five alarm fire: How right-wing media is encouraging Trump’s election denialism

Trump election dead-enders have a home on Fox News and right-wing radio

Biden aide: The president-elect knows the media’s job is to ‘hold him accountable’

Analysis: Are Fox News and Murdoch world turning on Trump?

The election might be driving us crazy — but massive ratings and traffic show no one’s turning away

Fox News tells anchors not to call Biden ‘President-elect,’ then seems to change its tune

Analysis: In a moment of truth for America, Biden leads with facts while Trump leads with feelings

Fox News and AP scrutinized for projecting Arizona while other outlets hold off

For the media, 13 burning questions that the election may start to answer

‘Surreal.’ Reporters share what it was like to cover the Trump and Biden campaigns

What will TV and social networks do if Trump prematurely declares victory?

Analysis: Fox News is misleading its audience about Trump’s election chances

Analysis: Election Day is also a referendum on Trump’s era of ‘fake news’

Nine things the press should do as 2020′s election season nears an end

Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation triggers a prime time celebration by the GOP

Fox News management says there are a ‘few positive COVID-19 cases’ at the company

Analysis: The year 2020 is defined by lines

More than 63 million people watched the final presidential debate

More than 57 million people watched the vice presidential debate

Both left and right praise debate moderator Kristen Welker while Trump keeps fact-checkers busy

Some Americans are just tuning into the election now. Here’s the news they really need

Jeffrey Toobin suspended from New Yorker, on leave from CNN, after he exposed himself on Zoom call

More people watched Biden on ABC than Trump on NBC, MSNBC and CNBC

Savannah Guthrie’s questions at NBC’s town hall exposed Trump’s warped information diet

C-SPAN political editor Steve Scully suspended after admitting he lied about his Twitter feed being hacked

Why NBC is getting lots of grief about its Trump town hall

Trump thrived in the ‘attention economy,’ but now he is hitting its limits

Despite disinformation, there is ample evidence that the truth still matters

With town hall debate canceled, Biden and Trump seek out their own town halls

Susan Page praised for questions but criticized for failing to follow up during VP debate

Analysis: The reality TV President won’t miss the next debate, no matter what he says now

It’s now up to journalists to get to the truth about Trump’s health

New York Times reporter infected with Covid-19 says the White House is not doing contact tracing

Americans are relying on leaks for information about Trump’s health

Analysis: Why Trump’s newest credibility crisis feels like deja vu

As Trump is treated for coronavirus, the press can’t lose sight of the nationwide story

Journalists who work at the White House are testing positive for Covid-19

Trump downplayed Hope Hicks’ Covid diagnosis on Fox hours before announcing he also tested positive

Failure of imagination: Why Trump can still shock the media

Trump-Biden clash was watched by at least 73 million viewers

Analysis: US presidential debate quickly devolves into disgrace without strong moderation

Dr. Anthony Fauci says some Fox News coverage of the pandemic is ‘outlandish’

The New York Times’ coverage of Trump’s taxes is an emperor-has-no-clothes moment

The media needs to do more to show real Americans’ pain during the pandemic

New signs of Covid-19 complacency even as the American death toll nears another dreaded milestone

‘He was lying through his teeth.’ ABC town hall participants weigh in on Trump’s performance

Trump says weekly calls on ‘Fox & Friends’ are returning; Fox says maybe not

While Trump defies coronavirus safety guidelines at rally, TV networks exercise caution

What to read and watch on the 19th anniversary of 9/11

Bob Woodward’s reporting prompts the question: What if Trump had risen to the occasion?

What a time capsule of 6-month-old headlines tells us about coronavirus now

Analysis: Fox News segment prompts Trump to target diversity training

Trump calls on Fox News to fire reporter who confirmed some parts of Atlantic story

Even Fox News is choosing not to cover Trump’s rallies in full, but his falsehoods are still eye-popping

Biden had a bigger TV audience for his convention, but Trump keeps declaring victory anyway

Stelter: America’s problems are real, but the news coverage needs to keep it in proportion

Biden hits Trump where it hurts: in the convention speech ratings

QAnon is conspiratorial, dangerous, and growing. And we’re talking about it all wrong.

As Tucker Carlson justifies violence, Fox News is paying him $10 million a year

Trump insists he doesn’t watch much TV despite years of evidence to the contrary

Sean Hannity receives special White House access for Republican convention

“Hoax” book excerpt: At Fox News, ‘the inmates are running the asylum’

Voices from Fox News to MSNBC praise Joe Biden’s acceptance speech

First night of 2020 DNC TV ratings down 25% from 2016

The Democratic convention in the age of a pandemic: hundreds of live feeds and four stages

GOP congressman Adam Kinzinger urges Republican leaders to denounce QAnon

Journalists mourn the loss of newsrooms as publishers give up office space to save money

Stelter: Trump has taken up residence at his own Potemkin Village

From Belarus to Hong Kong, journalists ‘are bearing the brunt of the global surge in repression’

Democratic women leaders call out sexist news coverage of female vice presidential candidates

Three top executives depart WarnerMedia as CEO Jason Kilar announces focus on HBO Max

Why ‘negative partisanship’ explains so many of America’s political problems

James Murdoch resigns from News Corp, citing ‘disagreements over certain editorial content’

Stelter: The threat to democracy we all should have seen coming

Reese Schonfeld, CNN’s founding president, has died at 88

Why Fox News’ Jesse Watters seized on QAnon

As Major League Baseball begins to play ball again, advertisers clamor for ad time

Fox News parts ways with a morning host who caused a Covid-19 scare

How Fox News has changed in the four years since Roger Ailes was ousted

Right-wing media plays up Portland protest ‘violence’

New poll reaffirms that most Americans don’t trust the President, but they do trust Dr. Fauci

Journalists are demystifying Covid-19 by sharing first-hand accounts on what it’s like to be sick

Mary Trump is releasing a book. Michael Cohen is finishing a book. Both are being restricted

Trump calls Hannity, claims Covid testing is ‘the greatest thing that ever happened for the opposite party’

MSNBC’s Joy Reid to host new evening newscast ‘The ReidOut’

As Twitter and Facebook find fake networks of accounts, are they merely scratching the surface?

Former Fox News anchor Shep Smith heads to CNBC to host evening newscast

Mary Trump’s scathing book claims Trump paid someone to take his SATs

The explosive tell-all book by Trump’s niece is coming out two weeks earlier than expected

From Disney to NASCAR, brands are breaking away from the president’s racial rhetoric

White House hasn’t approved requests for TV interviews with Fauci, official says

What the Russian bounty leaks really say about the Trump administration

GOP senators express outrage over mass firings at global media agency led by Trump and Bannon ally

Ed Henry fired from Fox News over sexual misconduct allegation

John Bolton’s memoir has sold a staggering 780,000 copies in its first week on sale

The fates of two leading newspaper publishers are up in the air

WarnerMedia plans to sell CNN Center

Pro-Trump media outlets are in denial as many states report new surge in coronavirus cases

Hannity’s town hall with Trump and evidence of an ‘information tragedy’

Bolton says his best seller about Trump is ‘a book about how not to be president’

‘Wednesday night massacre’ as Trump appointee takes over at global media agency

Trump says coronavirus is ‘dying out;’ Dr. Sanjay Gupta says the virus is not dying

Former Trump adviser John Bolton’s impending book elicits angry reaction from President Trump

Voice of America top officials resign as Trump-appointed CEO takes over international network

Three months of the pandemic: ‘We can’t get acclimated to losing 800 to 1,000 Americans every single day’

Trump’s latest target on Twitter: Comcast

Tucker Carlson ad boycott causes headaches for Fox News

Conservative media is living in the past as unrest subsides across the US

In newsrooms, ‘a raging debate over the role journalists should be playing’

White House turns press corps into anti-social distancing props

Stelter: Trump encourages people not to believe their eyes, ears or lungs

ACLU files suit on behalf of journalists in Minnesota

Journalists covering protests face assault and arrest

Arresting reporters at a protest is an affront to the First Amendment

Trump tweets threat that ‘looting’ will lead to ‘shooting.’ Twitter put a warning label on it

USA Today front page honors the Americans who have died from coronavirus

He asked Twitter to remove Trump’s false tweets about his dead wife. Twitter refused

Twitter remains silent about Trump’s appalling attack against Joe Scarborough

New York Times publishes names of 1,000 lives lost to coronavirus”

In public, Trump bashed Fox. Behind closed doors, he had a friendly chat with its top correspondent

News industry lobbyists say Congress needs to include relief in next stimulus package

Matt Lauer responds to rape allegation from Ronan Farrow’s ‘Catch & Kill’

Phyllis George, pioneering sportscaster and former Miss America, has died

News reporters become subjects of ire at anti-lockdown protests

Fox News staffers will continue working from home through mid-June, according to new memo

New York attorney general has investigated harassment allegations at NBC News

CNN sends Trump campaign cease-and-desist letter for misleading ad

Andy Lack, NBC News chairman, out in reorganization

CBS News’ Lesley Stahl recovers from Covid-19

Stelter: Hard times call for hard truths from public officials

World Press Freedom Day in the ‘coronavirus crackdown’

Anderson Cooper announces the birth of his son Wyatt: ‘Our family continues’

Americans confront the coronavirus stress test in very different ways

Writing about the dead during a pandemic: ‘They are not a statistic or data point’

Nearly three quarters of US senators call on Trump administration to help local news

YouTube CEO says people are discovering different kinds of videos as the pandemic rages

While some politicians rush to ‘reopen’ states, Corporate America is bracing for a long-term slowdown

Trump’s inconsistent coronavirus messaging ‘compromises public trust,’ former surgeon general says

A new generation of White House reporters hold Trump accountable

Piers Morgan says his friend President Trump is ‘failing the American people’

“It’s OK to not be OK right now.” A month of grief, worry and frustration

During a national emergency, Trump clings to his television home, Fox News

Propaganda on full display at Trump’s latest coronavirus task force briefing

A special ‘Sesame Street,’ a solo performance by Andrea Bocelli, and other flashes of good news amid the pandemic

‘What Day Is It?’ and other ways media companies are getting creative amid the pandemic

Stelter: Federal response to pandemic is a 9/11-level failure

Chris Cuomo shares covid-19 experience: ‘The beast comes at night’

WarnerMedia names Hulu’s founding CEO as new chief

Journalists challenge Trump’s ‘revisionist history’ regarding coronavirus response

CNN anchor Chris Cuomo diagnosed with coronavirus; he will continue working from home

Trump is self-isolating at his safe space: Fox News

Facebook is giving $25 million to news organizations, and spending $75 million more to help

CBS journalist Maria Mercader dies at 54 of coronavirus

As coronavirus death toll rises, Trump focuses on a different set of numbers: TV ratings

Trump in crisis mode uses Hannity interview to attack the media and Democratic governors

The scariest aspects of the coronavirus are what we can’t see on TV

Broadcasters adapt to social distancing and the new realities of covering a pandemic

How the Fox News presidency has politicized a national health crisis

In newspaper and TV interviews, experts beseech Trump to rethink Easter end to the coronavirus restrictions

Global coronavirus crisis inspires creativity and kindness

Doctors using TV and social media to sound the alarm: ‘We need masks today’

Virus shutdowns prompt sweeping questions about the future of news and entertainment

Dr. Sanjay Gupta urges Americans to stay home: ‘We’re in this together’

Broadway, symphonies and employers come up with creative solutions to coronavirus shutdowns

Newsrooms exercise caution as coronavirus pandemic continues

CBS News gets first-hand experience with coronavirus, disrupting its New York operations

America loses ‘comfort food’ as daytime talk shows and late-night comics suspend production over coronavirus

AT&T tells employees to work from home

The great shutdown of 2020: How newsrooms and media companies are adapting

The day coronavirus became real for millions of Americans

Media companies encourage employees to work from home as virus spreads

Tucker Carlson delivers coronavirus warning as his Fox colleagues attack media’s coverage

Trump makes spurious claims about coronavirus in phone call with Sean Hannity

Bloomberg News staffers breathe a sigh of relief after Mike Bloomberg drops out

John Bolton’s book has been delayed until May due to White House review

Chris Matthews retires from MSNBC after string of recent controversies

Joe Biden sees an ‘earned media tsunami’ after a night of endorsements

The power, and limits, of Pete Buttigieg’s ‘press-friendly strategy’

How health officials and social media are teaming up to fight the coronavirus ‘infodemic’

Despite criticism, more than 15.3 million people tuned into chaotic Democratic debate on CBS

Trump’s war on truth takes a dangerous turn as he attacks the media’s coronavirus coverage

Bob Iger steps down as Disney CEO. Bob Chapek replaces him

Reporters who investigated Harvey Weinstein react to his conviction

What is MSNBC’s problem with Bernie Sanders?

Beijing expels three Wall Street Journal reporters

With 33 NBC cameras rolling and millions watching, Mike Bloomberg makes his debate stage debut in Las Vegas

The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is bringing back the comedy with Kenan Thompson and Hasan Minhaj

Michael Bloomberg still has multiple opportunities to qualify for Wednesday’s debate

Justice Department drama is temporarily overshadowed by New Hampshire primary results

Longtime CNBC anchor Michelle Caruso-Cabrera running against AOC

Right-wing media condemn Mitt Romney after GOP senator casts vote to convict Trump

Nancy Pelosi ripping Donald Trump’s speech may not have been planned, but it was effective

White House excludes CNN from annual pre-SOTU lunch with news anchors

Rush Limbaugh says he has been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer

For newsrooms, a ‘balancing act’ between Iowa caucuses and the impeachment trial

Sean Hannity will face a big audience and scrutiny during Trump Super Bowl interview

Democratic senators take to Fox News airwaves to score points for Trump’s impeachment

NPR wants answers from Pompeo after State Department removes reporter from trip

Ben Smith is leaving BuzzFeed for the New York Times

John Bolton goes from Fox News contributor to subject of criticism

State Department drops NPR from Pompeo trip after Ukraine dust-up

John Bolton’s memoir, ‘The Room Where It Happened,’ gets March 17 release date

Longtime PBS NewsHour anchor Jim Lehrer is dead at 85

Cable, not broadcast, is the main stage for Trump’s impeachment trial

Sean Hannity says Republicans shouldn’t give impeachment trial ‘one iota of legitimacy’

Chicago Tribune staffers seek new owners amid fears of hedge fund takeover

Capitol Hill press corps shows support for Manu Raju after GOP senator’s smear

How the pro-Trump echo chamber has changed impeachment

Final debate before Iowa caucuses scores 7.8 million viewers

Abby Huntsman leaves ‘The View’ amid toxic culture at show and strained relationship with Meghan McCain

Stelter: The ‘projector in chief’ poses a perpetual challenge for journalists

The Salt Lake Tribune’s switch to nonprofit status may inspire other newspapers to do the same

In ten years, the number of scripted shows on American TV has more than doubled

Trump schedules another interview with Fox as concerns about credibility persist

‘Fox & Friends’ rally around Trump after missile attack: The Iranians are ‘terrified of us’

It is patriotic to question America’s leaders in wartime

Rush Limbaugh renews radio show contract in a ‘long-term’ deal

Fox’s Tucker Carlson breaks with colleagues and criticizes Trump’s strike on Iranian general

‘Tune out the noise,’ plus other New Year’s resolutions from media and tech executives