I looked through the list of 439 stories I wrote in 2016, and these are the ones that stood out:
In-depth stories and scoops:
- Donald Trump: I won’t kick reporters out of White House press briefing room
- Donald Trump ending press ‘blacklist’
- How the shocking hot mic tape of Donald Trump was exposed
- How Trump trumpets conspiracy theories
- History and hyperbole: What young reporters witnessed covering Trump
- Clinton’s press corps share what they learned during a historic campaign
- Donald Trump “would love to” talk about birtherism. Here’s why he doesn’t
- The secrets of David Fahrenthold’s reporting on the Trump Foundation
- Trump turns heads at the Time 100 gala
- Roger Ailes leaves Fox News
- Settlements, departures, rumors: Ailes exit shakes Fox News to its core
- Revealed: Fox News’ 400-page oppo file on Gabriel Sherman
- Former Fox staffers have Ailes stories – here’s why they’re afraid to speak
- The final days of Al Jazeera America
- On 15th anniversary, remembering what it was like to anchor on 9/11
- Bill O’Reilly and Megyn Kelly’s rivalry felt in halls of Fox News
- Debate commission chief: Candidates should fact-check each other
- Billy Bush’s departure from NBC now matter of “when,” not “if”
- Kelly Ripa gets a personal apology from ABC execs
- How NBC’s “Today” invented morning TV
- ‘Spotlight’ journalists celebrate sweet Oscar victory
Memorable interviews:
- Steve Bannon speaks: Donald Trump is “master of the head fake”
- Obama press secretary’s advice for his successor
- Why Khizr Khan is done giving interviews — for now
- AP’s Kathleen Carroll defends Clinton investigation but admits ‘sloppy’ tweet
- Seth Meyers talks about his approach to Donald Trump (and Jimmy Fallon’s)
- Gary Johnson vows to keep fighting
- Rolling Stone’s Jann Wenner on El Chapo coup: Anyone would have done it
- Les Moonves calls CBS promotion a ‘great honor’
- What this 9-year-old already knows about reporting
- Arianna Huffington: Media is failing America in how it’s covering Trump
- Surprise! TV host Maury Povich owns this Montana newspaper
“Fake news” and attempts to fight it:
- The plague of fake news is getting worse — here’s how to protect yourself
- Facebook’s ‘fake news’ labels under fire from right
- Facebook to start putting warning labels on ‘fake news’
- Fake news, real violence: ‘Pizzagate’ and the consequences of an Internet echo chamber
- Fake story about Obamas, Hillary Clinton ensnares Sean Hannity
- No, Newsweek’s Clinton cover is not proof the election is rigged
- Drudge Report misleads readers with Hillary Clinton photo
- Clinton campaign refutes conservative media rumors about her health
- The problem with Donald Trump’s ‘we won every poll’ claim
- News outlets stand by their ‘bogus’ post-debate ‘polls’
- Is Facebook an echo chamber? If so, they’re OK with that
Roger Ailes resigns:
- Fox News marks 20th anniversary with subdued celebration after Ailes scandal
- How Roger Ailes used ‘key man clauses’ for his stars to protect himself
- Why Greta Van Susteren is leaving Fox News so suddenly
- Fox News settles with Gretchen Carlson and “handful” of other women
- Andrea Tantaros lawsuit puts Fox News P.R. operation in spotlight
- What role is Roger Ailes playing in Donald Trump’s campaign?
- After Ailes: ‘Friends of Roger’ exodus expected at embattled Fox News
- Fox News voice not changing despite Ailes’ departure, but questions linger
- Fox News investigation is “winding down”
- Donald Trump on Roger Ailes’ Fox News exit: ‘So sad’
- Roger Ailes’ next project? A book
- Roger Ailes is out — now come the aftershocks
- Roger Ailes leaves Fox News
- Can Rupert Murdoch steer Fox News?
- Ailes, Trump have been counseling each other over the past week
- Countdown on for Roger Ailes’ departure from Fox News
- Roger Ailes in talks to leave Fox News
- Carlson v. Ailes case deepens as decades-old harassment claims surface
- Gretchen Carlson’s attorneys: Talk under oath about sex harassment allegation
- Fox conducting review of Roger Ailes after Gretchen Carlson sexual harassment lawsuit
Turning points:
- Diane Rehm says farewell to ‘The Diane Rehm Show’
- PBS newscaster Gwen Ifill has died
- Garrison Keillor says goodbye to ‘Prairie Home Companion’
- Charles Osgood announces Jane Pauley as his successor
- Associated Press executive editor Kathleen Carroll stepping down
- Morley Safer, CBS news legend, dies at 84
- ‘Who will we dress for, now?’ Fashion photographer Bill Cunningham dies
- Arianna Huffington steps down from HuffPo
- Why Luke Russert decided to leave NBC News after eight years
Journalism highlights and lowlights:
- The secrets of David Fahrenthold’s reporting on the Trump Foundation
- Gun rights group suing Katie Couric, others involved with ‘Under the Gun’ documentary
- Hurricane Matthew: Local media hunkers down to get vital news to those in danger
- How it happened: watching the media’s coverage of Dallas shooting
- What has changed since the WDBJ shooting one year ago
- Two reporters detained during Black Lives Matter protest in Rochester
- Fox News fans pessimistic about the country, and Clinton
- Melissa Harris-Perry is out at MSNBC
- Melissa Harris-Perry ‘highly unlikely’ to return to MSNBC
- How ABC covered the awful news involving its parent Disney
- NPR photographer and interpreter killed in Afghanistan attack
- Bloomberg’s dilemma: Covering Michael Bloomberg
- A controversial coup: Sean Penn and Rolling Stone land El Chapo interview
- Nonprofit group now owns Philly’s newspapers
- Las Vegas Review-Journal staff told to ease up on coverage of new owner
- ‘Spotlight’ wins Best Picture, and the real-life journalists are overjoyed
- ‘Paper routes for a night’: Boston Globe reporters deliver Sunday’s edition
Jason Rezaian returns home:
- Jason Rezaian gets standing ovation in Washington Post newsroom
- Jeff Bezos flies Jason Rezaian home on private jet
- Jason Rezaian speaks: I’m ‘feeling fine’ and want to see ‘Star Wars’
- Jason Rezaian’s brother: Iranians ‘continued to manipulate’ until very end
- Jason Rezaian is on his way home
- Jason Rezaian to be released after 544 days in Iranian prison
- News giants call on Iran to free American journalist
The end of Al Jazeera America:
- Al Jazeera America goes dark and CEO reflects: ‘I believe we succeeded’
- Al Jazeera announces 500 job cuts
- The final days of Al Jazeera America
- Al Jazeera America to shut down online site later this month
- Al Jazeera America’s spot on the dial already eyed by potential buyers
- Al Jazeera America to shut down in April
AT&T + Time Warner:
- Does Trump’s triumph put AT&T’s Time Warner deal in doubt?
- Hillary Clinton addresses AT&T-Time Warner merger
- What the AT&T and Time Warner deal will mean for you
- AT&T CEO pledges journalistic independence for CNN
- Why AT&T wanted Time Warner
- AT&T acquires Time Warner in media mega-deal
- Donald Trump rips into possible AT&T-Time Warner deal
- Report: AT&T in talks to buy Time Warner
Tech + media:
- Facebook Live’s big moment raises even bigger questions
- Philando Castile and the power of Facebook Live
- C-SPAN goes dark during Democrats’ gun control protest, so they Periscoped
- C-SPAN moves into spotlight with Democrats’ protest: ‘This is our story’
- BuzzFeed tried to live-stream interview with Obama, but something went wrong
- Facebook’s ‘trending topics’ spark debate and distrust
- Did Facebook suppress conservative news?
Big media business headlines:
- Gawker and Hulk Hogan settle lawsuit: ‘The saga is over’
- Peter Thiel: Financing lawsuits against Gawker is about ‘deterrence’
- Redstones call halt to CBS-Viacom merger talks
- Gannett calls off attempt to buy Tronc
- Bye, bye Time Warner Cable. Hello Charter
- Comcast buys DreamWorks Animation in $3.8 billion deal
- Gannett offers $815 million to buy Los Angeles Times and Tribune
- Hulu closes in on 12 million subscribers; plans cable-like TV option
- Investor jitters take a bite out of Big Media
- Netflix launches in nearly every country but China
“American Idol” signs off:
- What the ‘American Idol’ finale looked like from the inside
- ‘American Idol’ and Kieran ready to dim the lights one last time
- Why I’m going to miss ‘American Idol’
The Trump transition:
- 52 questions about the media and the Donald Trump presidency
- Brian Stelter: Journalists must make time for ‘soul searching’ after election
- ‘The polls clearly got it wrong’: The autopsy will take months
- Top journalists warn of threats to press freedom under Trump
- President-elect Trump’s Sunday morning tweetstorm at the New York Times
- Trump: Twitter helped me win but I’ll be ‘restrained’ now
- Corey Lewandowski resigns from CNN
- Trump uses un-canceled meeting with New York Times to complain about the Times
- Top network executives, anchors meet with Donald Trump
- ‘Hamilton’ investor says Trump would be ‘smart’ to come see the show
- Backlash after Donald Trump ditches his press pool
- New Wall Street Journal ad: subscribe to us, we saw Trump’s election coming
Election coverage — the general:
- Fallout from Trump’s war on the media will linger after election
- How Donald Trump made fact-checking great again
- Trump and Clinton prep long final ads
- My notes from early Trump event in New Hampshire sound like today’s news
- The weekend America’s newspapers called Donald Trump a liar
- Trump and Clinton sharing a strategy: avoiding news interviews
- Donald Trump retreats to friendly media ground
- Conservative media heavyweights at war over Donald Trump
- Trump boasts about dumping traveling press corps
- Donald Trump surprises Dr. Oz with results of recent physical
- Behind the scenes, NBC execs concede Matt Lauer forum performance was “disaster”
- Donald Trump’s ‘rigged’ election claim targets the media
- Donald Trump’s poll denialism
- Donald Trump has ‘betrayed First Amendment values,’ journalism advocates say
- Wikileaks mystery: How did town hall question get to Clinton campaign?
- 8 questions about the Donald Trump tape
- New York Times reporter on Trump taxes story: It’s not ‘a crime to check your mailbox’
- Donald Trump’s last press conference was on July 27
- Debate breaks record as most-watched in U.S. history
- One thing Clinton and Trump didn’t debate: the debate itself
- Trump TV may be in the works; but can it turn voters into viewers?
- Steve Bannon: The ‘street fighter’ who’s now running Trump’s campaign
- Debates: What it will take for Gary Johnson or Jill Stein to make it in
- Donald Trump continues his campaign against ‘crooked media’
- Why campaign reporters want you to watch this video of Trump rallies
- TV ratings for Donald Trump’s acceptance speech weren’t ‘huuuge’
- How the debate commission selects its dates — causing conflicts with NFL
- Standoff? Commission defends debate schedule amid Trump complaints
Election coverage — the primaries:
- First hour of Trump campaign coverage told us everything we need to know
- How the media missed Trump: ‘No clue what regular folk feel’
- This is your brain on Donald Trump
- ‘The Blacklist’: Here are the media outlets banned by Donald Trump
- CNN hires Corey Lewandowski as political commentator
- Even John Oliver enjoys a Drumpf bump
- The joke about Donald Trump’s hands goes back nearly 30 years
- Why the media were ready to call Clinton the ‘presumptive nominee’
- Donald Trump actually loves the media
- Nate Silver doubted Trump’s chances. Now he’s reflecting on what went wrong
- Mark Cuban: It would have been ‘fun’ to run against Donald Trump, but it’s too late
- Timeline of accusations and denials leading to arrest of Trump campaign manager
- Michelle Fields says Trump and aide ‘defamed’ her
- Reporter targeted by ‘Trump trolls’ says they want to ‘silence criticism’
- When the political press got it wrong. Trump? No, Truman
- Univision’s Jorge Ramos ‘still waiting’ on Donald Trump’s promised interview
- CBS reporter arrested at Trump rally: ‘I’ve never seen anything like what I’m witnessing’
- Why Donald Trump scrapped this morning’s live TV hits
- Rowdy Detroit audience raises question: Should debates have audiences?
- New Univision initiative urges Hispanic viewers to register to vote
- Ted Cruz’s claims about CNN are ‘false’
- Donald Trump’s Iowa loss gives CNN, Fox a big spike
- Trump and Fox at war: Neither side is backing down
- Donald Trump will skip Fox News debate on Thursday
- Presidential race delivers huge public interest — and ratings