As much as sweeping change can happen in a top-down manner—see our ‘Power Players’ round-up—the first decade of The Daily Beast’s existence was shaped by global groundswells of activism, outrage, and even reactionary violence. These movements exploded into our consciousness and seared images into our brains: the crowds thronging Tahrir Square during the Arab Spring. The protesters marching in Ferguson, facing down riot cops and demanding justice. The women online confessing, “#MeToo,” fed up and sick of serial abusers. The littlest victims of yet another school shooting. The White House lit up in rainbow colors to celebrate the triumph of gay marriage. The electoral map turning red on the night of November 8, 2016.
The Daily Beast broke news on these movements as they seized national attention. We exposed how Russia used social media to weaponize America’s systems of white supremacy and stir up real-time support for President Trump. We discovered the heroes who risked everything to stop the sickos shooting up schools. We called bullshit on celebrity-fueled anti-science hogwash. We uncovered corruption inside the police departments at the center of Black Lives Matter protests. And we exposed the racist and misogynist underbelly of the Internet, where alt-right memes morphed into a political fervor.
Now, we stand on the precipice of another decade of astonishing change. Will the Trump administration roll back years of progress on gay rights? Will men call time’s up on Time’s Up? And are our next elections safe from international meddling? No matter what comes, we’ll be covering it up close.
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The Shocking Moments:
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