Episode 162: The Big 6 - Top Stories of 2013
Newsmaker of the Year: Rob Ford
"What was in those packages you exchanged with Sandro Lisi?"
-From questions submitted to Day 6 by journalists and personalities still unanswered by Toronto's embattled mayor.
Find more quotes from this week's guests after the break.
Pop Moment of the Year
"Miley Cyrus was obviously the gift that kept on giving in pop culture... there were automatically so many angles to it.... there's the element of Hannah Montana growing up... there's the element... of is this too sexy?"
-Sonya Bell writer for This Hour has 22 Minutes, and contriburor for Maclean's
"'The Sound of Music' live on NBC... was the first time a live musical had been performed on television- live- in 50 years... what it made me realize was the era of appointment television has returned."
-Rachel Sklar writes about media and pop culture for Newsweek, The Daily Beast and others
"It was 'The Butler' and '42' and 'Mandela'...'12 Years a Slave'... The whole group of movies that gave a new approach to the history of American racism. What I think we saw was the first attempt really that you can see in film to portray realistically the psychopathology of a white slave master."
-Stephen Marche, author and pop culture columnist for Esquire
Heartbreak of the Year: Lac Megantic Disaster
On July 6, 2013 a freight train derailed in the Quebec town Lac-Megantic. The train was carrying crude oil and caught fire. Massive explosions leveled much of the downton and 47 people died. It was the worst rail accident in Canada since Confederation.
Genevieve Breton, 28 years old, was killed in the accident. Genevieve was a talented singer and songwriter with a promising future and she had just recorded a new song a week before her death. Her family has allowed us to share her music with you.
Turning Point of 2013: Sarin Gas Used in Syria
"I saw a father who was carrying his small son. He tried to wash his face. The white foam was coming out of his mouth. He was crying so hard because he couldn't provide anything to his son. His son was dying between his arms. He couldn't do anything."
-Eyewitnesses to the Sarin gas attack in suburban Damascus in a Day 6 oral history.
Disruptor of the Year: Edward Snowden
"You have to divide the world into before Snowden and after Snowden. Before Snowden, if you're a news organization, you always believed or suspected that the government was trying to eavesdrop on you and spy on you. After Snowden you have proof that that's exactly what they were doing."
-Marc Frons, chief information officer of the New York Times from the Day 6 panel on Four Ways Edward Snowden Changed the World
Flameout of the Year: President Obama
"Because he has such a profound failure around the website, around the basic execution of the healthcare policy people aren't willing to listen to his intellectual arguments about it."
-David Plotz editor of Slate
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