The year in review
Ten most popular document dumps of 2012
This year, The Times published nearly 40,000 pages of source documents, including California’s state budget, celebrity autopsies and incriminating government emails. These 10 drew the biggest audiences.
10. Investigating ‘Fast and Furious’
9. World happiness report
8. Whitney Houston’s cause of death
7. Bungie-Activision contract
6. Lehman Bros. compensation
5. MegaUpload.com indictment
4. Whitney Houston’s autopsy
3. Notorious B.I.G.’s autopsy
2. Inside the ‘Perversion Files’
1. Prop. 8 ruled unconstitutional
10. Investigating ‘Fast and Furious’
The goal of the ATF’s Operation Fast and Furious was to allow straw purchasers to illegally buy weapons in the U.S. so agents could follow them to drug cartels in Mexico. But agents lost track of roughly 1,700 weapons, and hundreds soon began showing up at homicide scenes in Mexico. The Times followed the investigation and posted internal emails about the controversial operation.
9. World happiness report
How happy is your country? In a report released in April, economists John Helliwell, Richard Layard and Jeffrey Sachs rounded up what is known about happiness around the globe.
8. Whitney Houston’s cause of death
In a brief March report, the L.A. County coroner’s office determined that Whitney Houston’s final cause of death was drowning. Heart disease and cocaine were contributing factors.
7. Bungie-Activision contract
Details of video game publisher Activision Blizzard Inc.’s high-profile deal in 2010 with Bungie Inc. to make an original game series was made public for the first time in May as part of a separate lawsuit involving the Call of Duty game franchise.
6. Lehman Bros. compensation
In April, The Times published the pay packages for 50 of Lehman Brothers’ most highly compensated employees from 2005 to 2007. The top earner was awarded $100 million over those three years. The documents emerged in Lehman’s record-breaking bankruptcy case.
5. MegaUpload.com indictment
In January, the U.S. Department of Justice shut down MegaUpload.com, one of the world’s largest file-sharing websites, after charging the site and its executives with violation of piracy and copyright laws.
4. Whitney Houston’s autopsy
Whitney Houston was submerged in bathwater for nearly an hour before a personal assistant found her dead in the Beverly Hilton Hotel, according to the final coroner report released in April.
3. Notorious B.I.G.’s autopsy
In December, L.A. County coroner’s officials made public the autopsy of rapper Notorious B.I.G., whose real name was Christopher George Latore Wallace, more than 15 years after he was shot to death at Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue.
2. Inside the ‘Perversion Files’
Since at least 1919, the Boy Scouts of America has maintained “ineligible volunteer” files intended to keep sexual abusers, among others, out of its ranks. The Times collected records of nearly 5,000 cases dating back as far as 1947. Of those, about 1,900 case files with detailed information were published.
1. Prop. 8 ruled unconstitutional
A federal appeals court struck down California’s ban on same-sex marriage in February, which cleared the way for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on gay marriage next year.
