The 5 biggest news stories of 2020

This appeared in The Millennial Source

Here are the news stories that defined 2020 and changed the world.

In any given year, countless events shape nations and the lives of those around the world. On an individual level, the biggest news stories of any given year are often those that the vast majority of people were never even aware happened. Yet, even as the population worldwide grows and political divisions harden, our interconnected world ensures the biggest stories unite us all.

It was, however, also a year of deadly international conflicts, the intensifying spread of misinformation, and a deepening political divide between populism and progressivism.

Here are the news stories that defined 2020 and changed the world.

5. The spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories

Though misinformation and conspiracy theories have always been around, 2020 may go down as the year they congealed into a nearly unstoppable force.

Nowhere was this mix of conspiratorial thinking and factual distortion more perfectly aligned than with QAnon, the pro-President Donald Trump conspiracy theory that claims a satanic cabal of elites is sexually abusing and feasting upon children.

And while some may dismiss conspiracy theories and disinformation campaigns as overblown distractions, 2020 also proved that misinformation could be deadly, especially when mixed with a pandemic.

4. Continuing international conflicts

In January, the trade war between China and the US began to ease with the hope that both countries would quickly recover from its impact. Unfortunately, the pandemic quashed those hopes and worsened relations between the two nations. Trump has frequently blamed China for what he has dubbed the “China Virus,” while the economic ties between the two nations remain fraught.