Another year has passed and a handful of notable media misreports along with it. One of the most prestigious journalists was caught plagiarizing another journalist’s work this year as well as one reporter's serious lack of fact-checking regarding the Aurora shooting.

Perhaps the most heinous of media misreports this year was not a single event at all but the consistently uncritical examination of the 2012 election process. This list of 5 media fails of 2012 reviews the more memorable media missteps of this past year.

Aurora Shooting

2012 was a powerful whirlwind in foreign policy. Some of the major foreign policy events of 2012 will continue to shape geopolitical relations around the would in 2013.

Three regions will be of major importance in 2013: the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.

The Middle East:

The Syrian Civil War

The White House Christmas tree was lit by President Obama earlier this month, alongside his family and several thousands spectators. Although there are several Christmas trees throughout the White House, there is always one official tree that resides in the Blue Room. Check out the history of the White House Christmas Tree in this mini infographic.

An update to the Video Privacy Protection Act, instated in 1988, will allow Netflix subscribers in the U.S. to automatically share account activity on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Netflix has pushed for the legislation, which they say will lead to an increase in business; such social sharing has proved beneficial in other places throughout the world.

Over the course of the year, social media experienced its fair share of "firsts." Marked by major events like the Summer Olympics, the presidential election, Hurricane Sandy, and turmoil abroad, 2012 saw innovations in social media that far exceeded our expectations. And with the year coming to an end, the Internet is flooded with speculation about what will come next.

2012 was a big year for IVN. It was a year of significant expansion and accomplishments. IVN reached out to an audience of over seven million people with content written by independent contributors for independent-minded voters.

Below is a list of the top ten most popular articles from the last year: