Internet, 2012 | featured news

The world's attention wavered between the tragic and the silly in 2012, and along the way, Web surfers searched in huge numbers to find out about a royal princess, the latest iPad, and a record-breaking skydiver.

Can traffic-chasing sensationalism and society-changing journalism co-exist under the same roof? The decision by the Pulitzer Committee to award this year's prize for national reporting to the Huffington Post's David Wood for his series on wounded veterans is a pretty good sign that they can, at least for now. Editor in chief Arianna Huffington and executive editor Tim O'Brien took a few minutes out from the staff's champagne toast to talk about what it means for the seven-year-old news organization.

While 2011 was a big year for political unrest, another uprising was afoot in the world of content creators and artists. Everywhere you look, artists are taking more control over their own economic well being, partly because the Internet has enabled them to do so.

Rick Santorum has lost control of his online identity, a predicament that stands as a chilling example of what it means to be at the mercy of the Google algorithm.