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The News Alerts of 2017
Epic. Historic. Unprecedented.
When New York Times editors talk about the 2017 news cycle, we find ourselves reaching for words that our Stylebook calls too hyperbolic for all but the rarest of circumstances. They feel appropriate here.
The Times sent over 750 breaking news alerts — the buzzing, light-up-your-phone kind — to millions of devices and email inboxes around the world in 2017. That’s a 30-percent jump from last year, election and all.
A disruptive president, a harassment reckoning and other ground-shaking stories forced new debates in the newsroom about what is “alertable” (e.g., when does a tweet from President Trump deserve a push notification?).
Here are the 10 breaking news stories that pulled in the highest readership this year, and the corresponding alerts that compelled readers to pause and take notice.
Oct. 2
1. The Las Vegas Shooting
One way to judge a news story’s magnitude is by the number of notifications it merits. Five alerts for one news story in one day is a rarity for The Times, and a grim marker of this shooting’s gravity.
Aug. 12
2. The Charlottesville Rally
The news from Charlottesville, Va., began with an emergency declaration — not the sort of thing that immediately registers as a presidency-shaking moment. But what came next laid the groundwork for days of controversy.
March 24
3. The First Obamacare Repeal Vote
The first big legislative push of the Trump presidency ended in dramatic disappointment for House Republicans. Although they would later pass a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the effort died in the Senate.
Sept. 10
4. Hurricane Irma
Hurricane Irma’s march up the Florida coast followed catastrophic storm damage in Texas and the Caribbean and a major earthquake in Mexico. It was beginning to feel like a season of endless disasters, and that anxious sense of déjà vu most likely contributed to the resonance of these notifications.
Sept. 3
5. North Korea’s Sixth Nuclear Test
These three alerts greeted many Americans just as they were waking up on a holiday weekend. Coming a month after Mr. Trump threatened “fire and fury” on North Korea, this nuclear test intensified a climate of fear, reciprocal threats and speculation about Kim Jong-un’s intentions.
Oct. 30
6. The Mueller Inquiry’s First Charges
A burst of notifications before lunchtime announced a major advancement in Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into ties between Russia and the Trump campaign. The latter two thrust George Papadopoulos, a little-known campaign aide, into the public eye.
May 9
7. James Comey’s Firing
The abrupt dismissal of James B. Comey altered the course of the Trump presidency, and The Times was among the first to alert readers. But speed can come at a price: Our notification misspelled the attorney general’s name.
Sept. 8
8. Mexico’s Strongest Earthquake in a Century
In a busy year, September was a particularly busy month. This earthquake was Mexico’s most powerful in decades, but it wasn’t even the country’s deadliest of the month. Just 12 days later, a 7.1-magnitude quake killed more than 300 people.
Aug. 17
9. The Barcelona Van Attack
Assailants in Spain’s worst terrorist attack in years followed a grisly template, using a vehicle as a weapon. But in other ways, this attack was a departure: It was the work of a 12-man extremist cell, the police said, and the driver got away. The police found and killed him four days later.
Oct. 31
10. The Manhattan Truck Attack
A haze of uncertainty often obscures the early details from fast-moving news events, as the first alert shows. (“Shots may have been fired.”) Only when our reporters confirm additional facts can we fill in the blanks.
Eric Bishop is an editor on the news desk at The New York Times.
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