Week In The News: A Year In Review

56:10

December 30, 2011

The week in review, the year in review. Our weekly news roundtable live and in the studio looks back at 2011 and peeks ahead to the brand new year.

FILE - In this May 1, 2011 file image released by the White House and digitally altered by the source to diffuse the paper in front of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with with members of the national security team, receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/The White House, Pete Souza)

We are folding the tent on 2011 today. What a tent-full of news.

Arab Spring and Gabby Giffords. Tsunami and twisters andFukushimanuclear meltdown. Osama Bin Laden, buried at sea.

Congress, buried in the polls. Qaddafi, gone. Mubarak, gone. Steve Jobs, gone. Joe Paterno, gone at PennState. America’s triple-A rating, gone. The Euro - maybe going, reeling. Only unemployment stuck around.

“Don’t ask, don’t tell,” gone. The GOP in full debate, and “Occupy” up in arms.

This hour, On Point: we take on 2011, the news, this year in review. What did all that mean?
-Tom Ashbrook

Guests

David Sanger, chief Washington correspondent for the New York Times.

Karen Tumulty, national political correspondent for the Washington Post.

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst.

From Tom's Reading List

Time "TIME Ideas picks the most thought-provoking, anger-inducing, viral viewpoints of the year."

Salon "Dear 2011: We come not just to honor but also to bury you. Here's how."

CNN "Dynamic 2011 events to shape world for years to come."

Playlist

"Our Day Will Come" — Amy Winehouse

"Hound Dog" — Big Mama Thornton (lyrics by Jerry Leiber)

"Jungleland" — Bruce Springsteen (sax solo by Clarence Clemons)

This program aired on December 30, 2011.