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OUR TRADITIONAL END-OF-YEAR list of most read stories on TheJournal.ie always throws up a few surprises, and this year’s is no exception.
As you might expect, breaking news stories responding to developing events were among the most popular on the site and across our social media channels.
Interestingly, however, the most-clicked story by a country mile was one of our daily morning polls, on the subject of Catalan independence.
Why? More on that below. Here’s the list of headlines…
At more than 2.3 million views, this poll had almost twice as many views as the next-most-read article on the site this year.
If you think that number seems unusually high, you’d be right. The post was picked up by Facebook groups from both the pro- and anti- independence sides, and was also widely shared on Whatsapp by other groups with strong views on the future of the Spanish region, before making its way to Spain’s largest forum site.
In short (and through no specific extra effort on our part) it went viral.
Schools and colleges were closed, transport systems shut down and employees encouraged to stay at home as Storm Ophelia swept across the country on Monday 16 October.
Three people lost their lives. At the storm’s peak 330,000 households and businesses were without power. This was our liveblog covering the events of the day from before 6am to just before midnight.
Met Éireann upgraded its warning to a ‘red alert’ for the entire country the evening before the storm hit.
This article, which was updated throughout Sunday night 15 October, also included details of the decision to close schools and colleges and storm arrangements being made by the HSE.
Yes, well, there was a lot of interest in Storm Ophelia, as you may recall. This was a ‘main points’ update from the Monday afternoon, at the peak of the storm.
58 people died and almost 500 were wounded when mass killer Stephen Paddock opened fire on a country music concert in Las Vegas from a hotel window on 1 October.
The play-by-play from our sister site The42.ie as Dublin beat Mayo to complete the three-in-a-row.
The Blanchardstown Shopping Centre in West Dublin was evacuated for several hours on the evening of Wednesday 1 November as gardaí responded to reports that an armed person was suspected to be on the premises.
At least 80 people died in the Grenfell Tower disaster in London in June of this year. Residents had complained for years about fire safety in the 24-storey social housing tower. This article was last updated at 5pm on the day the fire broke out, having been updated since the morning.
Three assailants wearing fake suicide vests ploughed through pedestrians in a van before going on a stabbing rampage in bars near London Bridge.
The three assailants were shot dead by police after killing eight people – three French citizens, two Australians, a Canadian, a Spaniard and a Briton. This article covered the developing story from Saturday night until shortly before 5am on the morning of 4 June.
Suicide bomber Salman Abedi, a 22-year-old British man of Libyan origin, blew himself up outside a pop concert in Manchester on 22 May.
The attack killed 22 people – a third of them children – and injured scores more in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. This was our liveblog from the following day, which included updates from 5.30am to shortly before 8pm.
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A sky news journalist was fired upon in Ukraine and it made international headlines for a few day after the event, and rightly so. I wonder will the cold blooded murder of a journalist by the iof make the same waves internationally.
We need sanctions against the israhelli regime now. The israhelli regime can not be allowed to continue with the murder and ethnic cleasing of Palestinians. #BDS
@Eamonn Connaghan: “They are b&stards, but our b&stards”, to misquote certain American president.
@Eamonn Connaghan: this sad and tragic murder is receiving a lot of coverage this morning, RTÉ sky 24 BBC 24 and CNN
@George Demo: Yes but in a lot of those cases they are not specifying that it was Israeli fire that killed her.
@Eamonn Connaghan: iof, clever, proper name for them really.
@Zmeevo Libe: Don’t put all your eggs into the one b@stard.
@Eamonn Connaghan: you guys know well that the journalist was caught in the cross fire of the two warring factions.. But you love any chance to demonise israel as does the irish media.. Regardless of the facts..
@Victor Feldman: She was a thorn isn the side of the Israelis for her reporting. She had been previously arrested by them on many occasions.
According to other journalists in the area she and the other journalists had reported to the Israelis that they were covering the story and were on site. They were wearing the PRESS jackets and helmets. According to witnesses the journalists were well away from any conflict between the 2 sides. Yet you know well that it was crossfire. Have you given your report to the UN or Amnesty or any other international organisation? Probably not as they are all corrupt and biased against Israel aren’t they? I wonder why…..
Israel lost the plot decade’s ago and worse they’re getting. Their policy to the Palestinians and the actions of the IDF are shameful. Next comes the slick and sickly PR with obfuscation and conciliatory tones. They just don’t get it. Lots of nukes and a big army won’t prevent them from reeping the harvest they sow with caleous disregard. May Ms Abu Akleh rest in peace.
This brave women was assassinated by occupying forces. Her crime, being both a journalist and Palestinian.
Yet again evidence of Israeli justice. No trail, no charges just a bullet fired into her brain. Other journalist were also injured so this was a targeted assassination. Even those who tried to recover her remains came under fire. Preventing any medical help reaching her.
May she rest in peace.
They rarely justify these killings but this journal…ist was wearing a flak jacket with PRESS on it. The Israeli sniper knew how to aim his American rifle.
@Bramley Hawthorne: proof please
There are no Israeli “security forces” in the Occupied West Bank, there are only Israeli armed forces brutally occupying it, like Putin’s forces in Ukraine
The Israeli army/paramilitaries kill about two or three Palestinians every week.
I wonder what their ‘investigation’ will conclude. Will they release the body cam footage?
@Watchful Axe: I doubt body cam footage will show anything, wasn’t it a sniper.
@Watchful Axe: Palestine have her body and won’t join a joint investigation
I wonder why
@Kieron Meehan: havent been asked to! Autopsy is being carried out
‘The sad death…’ should that not read ‘murder’? Why repeat the euphemism?
Excuse disjointed comment but I was being flagged as ‘toxic’ every second word.
Absolutely disgraceful attitude from the US. When asked whether the US would support an international investigation, US Department of State spokesman Ned Price said: “Israel has the wherewithal to conduct a thorough investigation”.
@Fr. Fintan Stack: Never mind about this, it’ll be forgot about in a day or two, just make sure you have a Ukrainian flag in your bio. Or else.
Is Israeli Jews believe in God, do they really think he’d be fine with how they carry on? They base their aggression on an idea that Jesus gave them that land and it’s rightly theirs. But do they think they’d meet Jesus in heaven and his position would be “it’s fine to shoot innocent people if it’s to do with property and land ownership. In that instance my son, of course you may kill”
@Rob Gale: The god of the bible was fond of a lot of smiting and slaughter so I’d say they’d be grand once they get up there.
@Rob Gale: buddie.. The Jewish religion does not believe in jesus. At that period the Jewish people had been around for a couple of thousand years.
Has anything been proved
Palestine won’t join a joint investigation
Why?
@Kieron Meehan: Israel won’t agree to an independent international investigation. I wonder why.
@Kieron Meehan: strange that you spit out the same nonsense a couple of times on the comments when it clearly stated in the article Israel haven’t contacted the palestinians
@Fr. Fintan Stack: it won’t agree to an international investigation because there are countries like Ireland who viscerally dislike Israel.
have your say