A report by Morning Consult that "measures real-time media consumption throughout the year" revealed the 600 best-known "news events" to American voters in 2023:
The analysis is based on contemporaneous measurement of more than 600 news events among nearly 100,000 registered U.S. voters. This project looks at the share of voters who said they saw, read, or heard “a lot” about each event at the time it occurred.
Among the news most "seen, read or heard" by Americans are "the Chinese spy balloon" that flew over the country in February and the disappearance and implosion of the OceanGate Titan submarine.
The most heard-about news events of 2023, among U.S. voters:
1️⃣ A Chinese spy balloon travels across the U.S: 59%
2️⃣ A tourist submersible goes missing while diving to view the Titanic wreckage: 59%
3️⃣ The Chiefs defeat the Eagles in Super Bowl LVII: 55%https://t.co/8y3kkQL0SL pic.twitter.com/UVqybH9VIv— Morning Consult (@MorningConsult) December 19, 2023
The top 10 most outstanding news events of the year
The study revealed that the two news events that reached the population the most in 2023 "involved moving objects." Nearly 60% of voters (3 in 5) said they had "heard a lot" about the Chinese spy balloon that drifted over the nation in early February.
The same percentage (59%) of voters claimed to have heard the news "of the OceanGate Titan submarine" that disappeared and was eventually discovered to have imploded" in the middle of this year.
The Super Bowl was among the most-read news stories this year, reaching 53% of voters. An average of 113 million viewers watched the Kansas City Chiefs win their third Vince Lombardi Trophy after defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35. It was one of the most watched televised events in the last six years.
The report highlights that "this is the second consecutive year in which incidents on foreign soil are among the most penetrating news in the United States." Among them, the attack by Hamas terrorists against Israeli citizens on October 7 was one of the news that "caused the most stir":
The devastating earthquake that devastated Turkey and Syria also topped our list of the top 10 news events in the United States. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the death of Queen Elizabeth in 2022.
The mass shooting at Covenant School, a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, which left three children and three adults dead and several injured, was also one of the most well-known news stories of the year (52%).
"Trump is once again the center of attention (...) the former president returned to the top 10 thanks to his continued legal problems," the analysis stated. Nearly half of voters (49%) "saw, read, or heard a lot about Trump's mugshot in Georgia during his prosecution on racketeering charges." Another 47% learned about his indictment on charges related to the 2020 election.
