Editorial: What mattered to readers in 2023?

Every day in this space, we try to open a conversation.

The idea isn’t to tell you how to think or what to think. It’s to take the stories that are breaking across the other pages and explore them.

Are there questions you want answered? Are there angles that should be explored? Are there cautionary aspects? Is there frustration? Is there fear? Is there confusion?

Is there a way that we can look at what is happening in one borough and have it matter to people across the region? Is there a state or national story that we can put in perspective by asking what it means in a more local context.

Our goal is always to kindle a spark in a reader’s mind. What could this mean for me? What could this mean for others? What can I do about it?

In 2023, there was a lot of response.

The highest-read editorial of the year was a January piece asking questions about Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli’s December 2022 car crash. Thousands of people wanted more answers or more accountability.

In February, they were reading about the amount of taxes being levied in Pennsylvania. In March, they considered whether the Game Commission should move the first day of deer season back to its traditional start on the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Higher education was important to readers in April (“Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education needs to embrace change”), May (“Why did trimming executives take IUP so long?”) and August (“WVU walkout has lessons for Pennsylvania colleges, leaders”).

In June, they responded to good news, celebrating the fun and financial impact of Taylor Swift’s concert stop and the cultural joy of Pittsburgh’s Juneteenth events. A month later, they wanted answers about South Side violence.

Pennsylvania was gripped by yet another prisoner escape in September and readers wanted to explore why that was happening in county jails. October saw the second-highest engagement with an editorial as thousands read about layoffs at PNC. In November, they saw how Harrisburg’s gridlock affected bipartisan hunting bills.

And December? Well, this month, readers have been most drawn to the political roller coaster of U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Braddock, who has been pulling away from his party’s far left on issues like Israel and immigration and recently declared himself not a progressive.

These aren’t necessarily the topics we found most critical each month. We covered so much more, like the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial, election issues that drew national attention and the perennial dysfunction of Pennsylvania’s budget process. We lauded fallen police officers, called for oversight of the Norfolk Southern crash in East Palestine, Ohio, and begged the Biden administration to just say the name of Russian-imprisoned Oakmont teacher Marc Fogel.

But just like we can’t tell you what to think, we also can’t tell you what should strike a chord.

What we can do is keep learning what matters to our readers. We can keep helping you find the information you need. We can keep the conversations going.

That’s what we’re here to do. And we can’t do it without you. Keep reading.