Year In Review: Video Mixtape

It's time once again for us to sift through all the video we shot this year, from all over the state and all over the country, and then whip it into a  greatest hits video. This year, multimedia producer Justin Dehn is calling it: "The Texas Tribune 2012 Video mixtape."

In 2012, these were the YouTube videos America couldn't get enough of: Felix Baumgartner doing a 834mph swan dive from outer space, Charlie biting his brother's finger, President Obama singing and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney trying to sing. 

Here at the Texas Tribune, though, we have much more discerning viewers. In 2012, we had almost a half-million views of our YouTube page? There were 493,514 to be exact.

So what videos were Texas Tribune fans watching? Way back in January, our governor, Rick Perry, was running for president. But a fifth-place finish in Iowa caused him to reassess – and we all thought then that he was out. But he wasn't actually out until South Carolina. 

May was all about gun-loving rock-and-roller Ted Nugent. The Tribune caught up with Nugent before his concert in South Texas to talk about, basically, whatever Nugent wanted to talk about. Since the video posted on the Trib's Youtube page, Nugent's comments on the Trayvon Martin case have received more than 130,000 views. 

In June, we rolled out our Fertile Ground series, focusing on the history and future of women's health in Texas.

Then in July, the primary runoff race for the Texas Senate between Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and former solicitor general Ted Cruz got downright nasty. 

Also in July, reporter Brandi Grissom took on the issue of prosecutorial misconduct. Criminal justice reformers called for change in the wake of the high-profile exoneration case of Michael Morton. 

In August, the Trib took you to the political conventions. First, to the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. Then, to the Democratic convention in Charlotte, N.C. 

In October, reporter Aman Batheja took a tour of the fastest highway in America, which opened just south of Austin. And thousands of viewers clicked on amateur footage captured by a Lubbock Democratic volunteer, who was assaulted by a group of campaign sign vandals. Later in the month, former president Bill Clinton rallied a crowd in San Antonio. 

In November, after what seemed like an unending campaign season, the elections finally arrived. In Texas, Cruz won the U.S. Senate race. And nationally, the Democrats took the top seat.  

The month of December was all pre-legislative session prognostication. The Texas Tribune website has more panel discussions and Triblive conversations than you can shake a stick at. 

There it is: a year of Texas Tribune video highlights. Rest assured, the Texas Tribune staff is already hard at work on next 2013's videos.