The Stories That Defined 2023 — and the Biggest Story Ignored by Most Media

The year 2023 is almost in the books. And for news media, there were no slow periods, no shortage of content on any level. War, chaos, viral crime, social division, and an already-ugly upcoming presidential election have made the year both riveting and depressing for news consumers to absorb. 

So with that introduction, here are the good, the bad, the ugly, and the ignored via the bias of omission, as we look back on the past year in news, politics and the media: 

Biggest U.S. story of the year: The unvarnished, unapologetic antisemitism unleashed following the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre on Israel that left more 1,400 dead and more than 200 kidnapped, marking the most horrific attack on Jews since the Holocaust. 

One would think that the reaction here in the U.S. would be not unlike 9/11, when the country came together as one. But the opposite has occurred, especially on college campuses and in major cities. 

According to a recent survey by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), nearly three-quarters of Jewish college students in the U.S. say they have experienced or witnessed antisemitism on their campus since the start of the school year. Just 46% feel safe. 

Meanwhile, a Harvard-Harris X survey finds that 51% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 believe the only long-term solution to the Israeli-Palestinian war is for “Israel to be ended and given to Hamas and the Palestinians.”

This is 2023, right? 

On the political front, Joe Biden's reelection hopes may hinge on young voters coming out as strongly as they did in 2020. Yet recent polling shows that, largely thanks to his staunch support of Israel, Biden is badly trailing Trump among voters under 30, an unthinkable prospect three years ago. 

Runner-up for biggest story: The persecution of Donald Trump with the end goal made abundantly clear — to remove him from the ballot, ironically in the name of saving democracy, if the recent decision by Colorado’s state supreme court is any indicator. 

For regular folks on the right, left or in the center, it's a simple argument: Let voters decide 11 months from now if Donald Trump should be president again, if he is the Republican nominee. If other states that matter greatly — swing states like Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada and Arizona, all states that will decide the next election — are somehow successful in keeping Trump off the ballot, our government and the people's trust in it will be broken beyond repair. 

Honorable mention: The gang that can't shoot straight, House Republicans, just concluded the most unproductive year of any congress since the Great Depression. Now-resigned congressman Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who painstakingly went through 15 rounds of voting before finally becoming House Speaker, was ousted months later by a few rogue GOP members led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) for compromising with Democrats. His eventual successor, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), may meet the same fate soon for the same reason.

Biggest media loser: One could easily make the argument that this was Disney's worst year yet. More than 8,000 employees were laid off. Multiple big-budget films bombed at the box office, from The Marvels to Indiana Jones 5. For the first time since 2014, no Disney movie broke the $1 billion threshold. Overall, the company is expected to lose an estimated$900 milliondue to its underperforming movies, even as its feud with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) continues. 

Not-so-honorable mention loser: Elon Musk obviously overpaid to purchase Twitter in October 2022 for $44 billion. But could anyone have predicted the company, renamed X, would lose $25 billion in value in just one year? The main driver: Advertising is down 60% when compared to one year earlier, while the outspoken Musk has become a lightning rod for controversy and the left's No. 2 villain behind Donald Trump. 

Biggest media winner: Taylor Swift, the 34-year-old singer, songwriter and businesswoman, eclipsed $1 billion in sales during her recent Eras Tour which sold out stadiums around the globe. And for those who couldn't afford to dole out thousands of dollars for tickets, The Eras Tour movie took in more than $100 million on its opening weekend, making it the most successful concert film in history. 

Swift also began dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and attending games across the country. Result: Never has the sports world seen a non-athlete who isn't even on the field generate a ratings boon quite like her, as exemplified by her appearance at a Chiefs-Jets game in New Jersey in October that saw viewership among teenage girls jumping 53% when compared to other Sunday Night Football offerings. Overall, 27 million people tuned in, making it the highest-rated sports broadcast in 2023 since the Super Bowl. For its part, NBC cut away to show Swift's various reactions to the game that night no less than 17 times. 

Biggest story ignored by most media: The numbers of those entering the country illegally are staggering. On Monday alone, there were 12,600 migrant encounters, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sources told Fox. On Tuesday, there were more than 10,500 encounters, per an ABC News report. Overall, there were more than 2.4 million apprehensions in the 2023 fiscal year, which ended in September, marking an all-time high. The previous record was in 2022; the previous record before that was in 2021. Common thread: Those three years mark President Joe Biden's time in office. 

As a result of this unprecedented influx, many state and city budgets are exhausted, as cities like New York are being forced to house and feed illegal migrants in city hotels and near public schools. 

“Every community in this city is going to be impacted," New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced in September. "We have a $12 billion deficit that we are going to have to cut. Every service in this city is going to be impacted.” 

Adams would go on to slash budgets for police, education, and sanitation, enraging legal citizens regardless of ideology. His approval in deep-blue New York stands at 28%.

There's also a national security element that should make the border crisis a nightly top or near-the-top story: In the past fiscal year alone, 172 individuals on the FBI's terror watchlist were apprehended. It's not known how many "gotaways" — those who cross without being detected or apprehended — have entered the country. 

This should be alarming to anyone paying attention. But the story has largely been downplayed or ignored. As for the Biden administration, it believes it has made progress addressing the crisis, which it insists on describing as only a "challenge." 

"We believe we've done a good job … to try to get at some of the root causes of illegal immigration," White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Thursday. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre added: "We're at a time of the year where we're seeing more at the border and it's not unusual.”

The first step to solving any problem is acknowledging there is one. In May, the GOP-led House passed the Secure the Border Act. The bill calls for resuming border wall construction, increasing the number of Border Patrol Agents, tightening asylum standards, and requiring employers to e-verify job applicants. It has since stalled in the Democratic-controlled Senate, while the president has called it "extreme" and “partisan."

Expect to see the situation only get worse in 2024. It could become a defining issue of the presidential election, especially if more of the media finally commits the time, space and resources this story deserves. 

A 2020 Gallup poll, during the last presidential election year, showed that Americans feel "the media bears blame for political division in this country.” Don't expect that perception to change in 2024 — there is a president to elect, after all.

Joe Concha is a media critic, politics and sports commentator, and a contributor on Fox News.