Ben Trachtenberg

This is a supercut I made for NBC News Now to mark the end of the first two decades of the 21st Century. The task was to highlight the 20 biggest stories of the past 20 years. I put together a list of around 100 big news stories that defined the past two decades, and then I worked with senior producers to refine that list down to 20 core stories that inspired, enraged and captivated us. Working with the extensive NBC Archives, I combed through hundreds if not thousands of hours of archival coverage of major world events, and edited them into one cohesive look-back. There were, of course, dozens of important events that we had to leave out to fit with the “20 in 20” theme, but I think this list covers most of the big ones.