The contentious Supreme Court nomination was indeed the top story of 2018 and Race-&-Immigration had its second busiest year in our 31-year database. Yet its focus was on the scandal of children detained at the border, not Trump’s push for his Wall.

Even though the elections changed control in the House of Representatives, only CBS equaled the intensity of such previous waves as 1994 and 2006; no network matched that of 2010. Instead the political focus was on Trump’s troubles — the Robert Mueller investigation, lawyer Michael Cohen and lobbyist Paul Manafort — with ABC leading the way in each case.

As for public policy, the students at Parkland HS succeeded in elevating gun control and school safety. Healthcare and the environment were scanted, even as symptoms of climate change were inescapable. Wildfires killed scores in California and hurricanes drenched the Carolinas and battered Florida.

Foreign bureaus have never been so little used. Never has there been less reporting on Wars around the globe. Sorry Yemen. The biggest international story was the cave rescue in Thailand. NBC’s major foreign push was to cross-promote NBC Sports’ Olympics.This is not journalistic decision making to be proud of.

The Most Newsworthy Man of the Year was Justice Brett Kavanaugh; the Woman was Christine Blasey Ford, whose disputed tale of his drunken teenage misbehavior held us riveted.