YEAR IN REVIEW: Two topics book-ended a turbulent period in the news
COVID-19 pandemic and Capitol attack dominated the headlines in 2021
Looking back as the year draws to a close, there is one thing notably unusual about what made headlines in 2021: the same two topics in the news as the year started are also those making headlines as the year ends.
They have dominated the news – for good reason: everyone has been affected by them in ways big and small.
And, based on what we already know, they are likely to continue well into next year.
The COVID-19 pandemic was topic No. 1 as 2021 began and it still is, although the focus has shifted several times. But six days into the year, it was joined by the violent attack on The Capitol, which also is still making headlines every day as the year draws to a close.
It is usually much more difficult to rank the major news topics in order of their historical importance or impact, but there is little doubt this year.
Of course, there were times other topics percolated to the top spot throughout the year. But few would disagree that the two topics that began – and ended – the year at the top of the news are also the most historically important.
The pandemic
As the new year started, there was hope in the air. The first two vaccines against COVID-19 had just been rolled out and shots were being given to the highest priority categories of people.
Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were deemed highly effective and optimism was palpable that a new, better phase was dawning in what had already been a very grim 10 months of disease and death.
By early February, the vaccine was made available to everyone over 65 years of age, expanding the eligible population by millions.
The spring was marked by declining case numbers, rising vaccination rates and increasing optimism.
By June many states had relaxed their pandemic restrictions, reopened businesses and life seem to be returning to some semblance of normalcy. But that was not to last very long.
In early spring, there was a growing fear about a new variant of the Coronavirus first identified in India in late 2020.
The arrival of the Delta variant, named by the World Health Organization in May, began a new, major surge of the pandemic in the US.
It quickly became apparent that Delta was much more transmissible and likely even more deadly than previous variants, which were by then being named with letters of the Greek alphabet starting with Alpha, the original.
With cases and hospitalizations beginning to soar in July, pandemic restrictions were again rolled out across the country for a second time. There were no widespread lock-downs as previously, but it didn't take government mandates to change millions of peoples’ behavior.
Plans to reopen offices, theaters and venues with large crowds were scrapped or delayed. Remote work and school continued.
The summer surge turned out to be the worst of the pandemic so far, with cases peaking in late August and hospitalizations following in early September.
While the pandemic seemed to follow a cyclical pattern – the major surges so far look somewhat similar on graphs – in the meantime the vaccination rate was heading higher. After an initial steep uptake in the spring and early summer, however, the late summer and fall saw it plateau.
By early August, the Centers for Disease Control reported that just over half of all Americans had been fully vaccinated (even though shots for children aged 5 to 11 had not yet been approved).
With children now included in the tallies, as of this week only 61% of the US population has been fully vaccinated – an increase of only 10 percentage points in four months. It now stands at just over 200 million Americans, according to the CDC.
Conversely, that means more than a third of the population is still not vaccinated: that’s over 100 million people.
With all the metrics heading in the right direction in late fall, there was an air of optimism as schools reopened, businesses came alive and even theaters and tourist attractions resumed normal operations. Travel rebounded and Thanksgiving saw traffic close to 2019 levels.
But as with so many developments during the pandemic, just when things seemed to be heading back to normal, the Omicron variant threw out a curveball.
First identified in South Africa, just after Thanksgiving the World Health Organization named it a “variant of concern.”
With more than 30 mutations, Omicron is still being studied in countries around the world for how easily it spreads, the severity of illness it causes and its fatality rate.
The one aspect that has become more clear in December is that it is spreading fast. In the UK, case numbers are doubling about every three days, but so far hospitalization rates have remained relatively subdued.
As the year draws to a close, the Covid-19 pandemic is again dominating the news, crowding out almost everything else.
President Joe Biden delivered a detailed update on the new variant and his plans to deal with it in an address at the White House on Tuesday.
“We all want this to be over, but we are still in it,” Biden said.
That is perhaps a fitting coda to what has been called a once-in-a-century occurrence.
Few events in history are immediately recognizable simply be mentioning their exact date. The only one that immediately comes to mind is Sept. 11, 2001. Not even Pearl Harbor or the moon landing are similar (though we may remember the year!)
The Insurrection
Almost a year on, it seems like Jan. 6, 2021 will become another date that “will live in infamy.” It is certainly a date that has been mentioned in more headlines this year than any other – for good reason!
The events of that day are arguably the most widely documented in human history. Not only did they play out in front of a global audience thanks to national and international media coverage, but the participants themselves took thousands of hours of video many of which have since made it into news coverage and provided an unprecedented public record of what transpired.
With such a volume of evidence it would seem intuitive that the facts about what happened would not be subject to much dispute. But, seemingly within hours, a counter-narrative was launched and over the intervening 11 months there are now so many versions of what happened it has become a subject of constant debate and reinterpretation.
As the news coverage about what happened before, on and after Jan. 6 has continued, the window has widened. It has been revealed that many important related events preceded the violent attack on The Capitol itself and its immediate aftermath. Planning was much more extensive than previously known.
It took less than a week for the first major consequence from the Jan. 6 riot to occur: On Jan. 11, the House of Representatives began the second impeachment of former President Donald Trump, which was passed with 232 votes on Jan. 13 – just a week after the attack. After the inauguration of President Joe Biden on Jan. 20, the US Senate began its impeachment proceedings on Jan. 26 culminating in a vote on Feb 13.
The 57 “yeas” included seven Republicans but fell far short of the two-thirds needed for conviction, and Trump was acquitted.
For more than three months after this, leaders of the House and Senate debated how to investigate and report on the insurrection and there was much talk of a bi-partisan commission similar to the one formed after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Facing determined opposition from Republicans in both chambers, however, it soon became obvious that the two parties were never going to agree on such a commission.
It took until June 30 for the House to approve, largely on a party-line vote, the Select Committee to Investigate the Attack on the United States Capitol that is today conducting a broad and detailed investigation of the attack on The Capitol.
Its proceedings began with public hearings July 27, but then it spent most of the next five months working behind closed doors, taking depositions and interviewing witnesses. By the end of November it had interviewed over 250 people.
One who refused to respond to a committee subpoena to testify was former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, and on Oct. 19 the panel voted unanimously to hold him in criminal contempt of Congress. Two days later, the full House voted in favor of the resolution, and the matter was referred to the Department of Justice for prosecution.
On Nov. 12, Bannon was charged with criminal contempt and has pleaded not guilty. His trial will be held in July 2022.
What kept the Select Committee on the front page during December was the sudden about-face of key witness Mark Meadows, chief of staff to ex-President Trump during the Jan. 6 attack.
Subpoenaed in September, Meadows at first cooperated by providing thousands of pages of documents related to the investigation. After he failed to appear for a scheduled deposition on Nov. 12, his lawyers advised the Select Committee that he would stop cooperating. On Dec. 13 the panel voted unanimously to find Meadows in contempt in a widely televised hearing.
The next day, the full House voted to refer the matter to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution.
At this writing it is almost impossible to predict with any certainty where this topic will go in the new year. There are so many threads and high-profile actors involved, so many differing interpretations of events and continued enormous public interest, the only prediction one can make with any confidence is that it will continue to be a major topic in the headlines for many months to come.
On the agenda are more public hearings, and they will inevitably be covered gavel-to-gavel and draw an audience of millions.
The committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson has said his goal is to finish a report by the spring, but it is highly unlikely that the work of the committee will be completed by then. Perhaps Thompson will decide on an interim report and continue the investigation. Either way, the topic will remain of keen public interest in 2022.
Whatever one’s perspective, the attack on the US Capitol and the scourge of Covid-19 were inarguably and justifiably the main topics in the news during the year that is ending in just a few days.
It has been a painful period for millions and few have been able to escape for long. But that is the nature of the news in these turbulent times.
There were other notable events of shorter duration but big impact that will make it into the history books – climate disasters, wars, elections – but they pale in comparison.
We will explore them in a future article.
YEAR IN REVIEW: Two topics book-ended a turbulent period in the news
We are not receiving very much news about the Capitol aftermath down here.
All the news here is about the shambles by the State Governments handing of the reopened borders.
So many changes and rules being made as they go along.
The good news is that Australia won the Ashes.. Great days cricket, and outstanding performance of newly capped Scott Bolland.
And,
For those like it rough. It was on the first day of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. First to cross the line was Black Jack 2 days 12 hours and 37minutes, the slowest line honours win since 2004.
Very well covered on the turmoil of this past year, Warren.