Mediaite’s Most Influential in News Media 2020
15. Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade of Fox & Friends
The eclectic and entirely unique blend of news and culture topics, presented with a conservative point of view by Fox & Friends co-hosts Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade, played an outsized role in helping Fox News to retain its ratings dominance in 2020. The 22-year-old program, which memorably helped President Trump achieve prominence in conservative circles in the early 2010s with his weekly call-ins, is fairly old in the tempestuous world of television journalism — yet witnessed its highest-rated month in history in November in the coveted demographic. The show continued its dominance thanks to regular interviews with Trump — it’s his favorite morning show, after all — which also ensured that Fox & Friends remained a favorite wake-and-watch of his massive base of supporters. But these aren’t just hosts, they are newsmakers: Doocy surprised many with his fact-checks of election conspiracy theorists and Kilmeade in particular often asked tougher questions than many in his audience may have appreciated.
14. Savanah Guthrie
Savannah Guthrie, co-anchor of NBC’s Today show, has had another big, news-making year, thanks in no small part to her masterful handling of major news events.
Guthrie regularly interviews newsmakers at the peak of whatever news cycle they’re in (Chris Krebs and Dr. Anthony Fauci were this month’s highlights) and elicits the answers her millions of viewers want to know. And the hard questions aren’t reserved for one side of the aisle. Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump have lashed out at Guthrie for tough questions this year. Taking fire from interviewees for not throwing softballs is as much an indicator of influence as being at the center of every major political story. Guthrie was moderator at NBC’s Democratic debates, from the end of 2019 and on through the primary. She co-anchored NBC’s convention coverage, election night coverage, and she hosted a controversial town hall with Trump that elicited both pre- and post-event bashing on Trump Twitter. Her performance also brought torrents of praise from fellow journalists.
In a big news year, NBC’S Savannah Guthrie managed be out front on nearly every major story, and even part of the story more than once.
13. Jeff Zucker
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2020 provided no shortage of major news stories for CNN to cover. And despite its increasing reliance on edgy punditry, breaking news is still what the network does best. Between the devastating global pandemic, nationwide protests against racial injustice, and a frenzied presidential election, CNN thrived thanks to its robust international network of correspondents top roster of seasoned anchors. The network spent the weeks after the election topping the ratings of Fox News, the top cable news channel for two decades, another sign of CNN’s strength.
Jeff Zucker, who cut his teeth as producer of the Today show, is known as an executive with his hand firmly on the rudder — from calls to control rooms, pointers to anchors live on air, and a weekly call to staff setting the agenda for how this network covers the news. In eight years, Zucker turned CNN into a highly profitable news powerhouse, as well as a fixture of the Trump era and a symbol of dissent to an administration marked by a war between president and press. Thanks to bold programming decisions, a number of CNN stars were thrust into the center of news cycles — whether it was Jake Tapper providing powerful dissents to the latest presidential scandal, Chris Cuomo sharing nightly coronavirus updates that enraptured viewers, or Don Lemon delivering scathing, Trump-condemning monologues. The media industry has been abuzz with rumors that Zucker is planning to leave CNN in early 2021, but those remain rumors. But because its Zucker, rumor and speculation about his future become news. That’s influence.
12. Nate Silver
If you were obsessed with the 2020 election, there was probably one site you checked daily (if not hourly): Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight. Silver’s reputation for clear-eyed reading of the polls made his where-the-race-stands-now takes capable of reshaping the news narrative overnight, and he maintained a comparatively sanguine view of Trump’s re-election chances until weeks before the election. Even critics of polling — fond of touting the misses of 2016 — relied on Nate Silver this time around for a sense of where the race was going. That said, state by state polling took another hit in 2020, and Silver was the industry’s most prominent analyst. And on Election Night, Silver couldn’t resist a melodramatic warning about a possible Trump comeback that he then claimed was summarily “erased” just a few hours later. That’s a pundit move, if ever there was one. But Silver also redeemed himself with a plain-spoken election call for Biden days later, when both the data and common sense were saying what the news networks wouldn’t. Pollsters will have to do some soul-searching ahead of the next election, but you can expect by the time that comes around everyone will once again turning to Nate Silver for analysis and answers.
11. Marty Baron and Dean Baquet
It’s hard to believe that the influence of the New York Times and Washington Post could grow, but in 2020 — thanks in large part to the leadership of these longtime editors — that is exactly what happened. For the Times, after well over a century of existing as just a newspaper, the Gray Lady is now a multi-platform brand whose reach extends far beyond its broadsheet. The success of The Daily podcast spawned a series for FX titled The Weekly. Of course, the heart of the Times remains in its seven-day print and digital offering. Whether it was with coronavirus coverage, or its continued mastery of the White House beat, the Times broke story after story throughout the year. Baquet oversaw it all, and has been the driving force behind the increased breadth of his paper’s coverage.
So too has Baron, who helped grow his outlet’s digital initiatives dramatically, while steering the Post to shape the narrative for an election cycle unlike any other. This includes the aftermath — in which the famously reserved Baron put his stamp of approval on some stark condemnations of the president. In recent weeks, the Post has devoted precious A1 column space to calling out Trump in stark terms for “wag[ing] a full assault to overturn the election,” with his multiple court filings seeking to use baseless allegations of election fraud to commit “an unprecedented subversion of democracy” and overturn the will of the voters. Baron’s willingness to use that blunt language has given other outlets permission to follow suit.
Retirement rumors are swirling around both of these industry titans — with Baquet approaching the Times’ traditional mandatory retirement age, and Baron said to be looking to step down in a matter of months. But neither of them, in 2020, showed any signs of slowing down.
10. Chris Cuomo
In a year that saw CNN’s ratings soar, Cuomo Prime Time was consistently the top-rated show on CNN — hardly surprising. Cuomo is a fierce litigator of political debates, as well as a skilled reporter of non-political news. The major stories of the year — the coronavirus pandemic, the presidential election, Black Lives Matter, and Trump’s impeachment — were well-suited for an anchor in Cuomo’s position.
The CNN (and Sirius XM) host drew mass attention as the first big news star to contract the coronavirus in late March. He soldiered on, broadcasting from a home studio in Long Island, not only powering through a sickness that has killed more than 300,000 Americans, but providing a compelling first-hand testimonial of what a tough bout with Covid-19 is really like. His public experience with the virus — broadcast on CNN every night at 9 pm! — became a source of information and reassurance for many viewers. His regular interviews with his big brother, Governor Andrew Cuomo, were so must-see that they inevitably became a lightning rod of attention (not all the reviews were great). Unlike so many others in the cable world, Cuomo never shies away from inviting on guests who disagree with him. And his lengthy debates were not just entertaining, they allowed him to highlight and dismantle the weaknesses in his opponent’s arguments. You can’t ask for anything more from a cable news host.
9. Rachel Maddow
Rachel Maddow has spent the last four years establishing her show as appointment-viewing for liberals seeking comfort in the Trump era. The MSNBC host is not only the most-watched person on MSNBC, she’s also on track to beat Fox News in the ratings this December, a remarkable feat as liberals breathe a sigh of relief in the face of Joe Biden’s election victory. It’s clear Maddow remains the heart and soul of MSNBC’s prime time lineup. She was a major part of the network’s campaign coverage throughout 2020, a centerpiece of its Election Night show, and a consistent voice in the tumult of the last few weeks.
This year, The Rachel Maddow Show broadened its purview somewhat, turning away from the Russia investigation deep-dives that marked the previous few. Early on the pandemic, Maddow regularly called out the president for sharing dangerous misinformation, and even suggested the media should stop taking his White House briefings on the coronavirus live. More recently, she candidly addressed the uproar over NBC doing a town hall with Trump opposite Joe Biden’s appearance on another network, flexing her muscles as a powerful voice at 30 Rock.
A reason Maddow continues to be one of the top hosts in cable news is because of the real connection she has with her audience, demonstrated by her ability to keep viewers transfixed as she draws upon history in lengthy segments to break down the significance of the news of the day. Her emotional, very personal monologue to viewers regarding her partner Susan’s struggle with Covid-19 was a powerful moment with a vitally important message.
8. Jake Tapper
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Last year on this list, we wrote, “the smart money is on Jake Tapper getting the nod as the face of the network’s election coverage.” And while there was a lot that no one could possibly predict about 2020, that was one prognostication we happened to get right. Flanked by Dana Bash and Abby Phillip, Tapper was indeed the featured anchor on November 3. In the run up to the election, CNN wanted Tapper on the air as much as possible. His daily show, The Lead, was extended to two hours in the weeks ahead of November’s vote. And often on big event days, Tapper paired with Wolf Blitzer to run the show.
Throughout the year, he drew headlines for his blistering monologues holding the Trump administration to account. He also landed a slew of blockbuster interviews — notably scoring the first post-election joint sit-down with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. When Tapper went after Chris Wallace following his performance as presidential debate moderator, the CNN host showed himself to be one of a very few people in the industry with the gravitas to take Wallace on. Also worth noting is the success of The Outpost, a major motion picture based on his book about a group of U.S. soldiers fighting Taliban forces in a remote part of Afghanistan. The movie racked up strong purchase numbers on various streaming platforms, and Tapper also struck a deal for a sequel to his 2019 New York Times bestselling novel The Hellfire Club. If you were going to identify a single television host with the election season of 2020, there is a good argument to be made that it would be Jake Tapper.
7. George Stephanopoulos
As the host of This Week on ABC News, George Stephanopoulos helms one of the most influential news shows in America. That allows him access to a steady parade of high-powered guests, and political panels that set the media agenda for the week ahead.
What set him apart from the other Sunday show hosts this year was his ability to, again and again, score some of the most competitive bookings in the country for both his Sunday show and Good Morning America, which he co-hosts. Just having those two high profile perches in and of itself makes him a major media news influencer. With a deceptively easygoing interview style that disarms guests even as he’s going in for the kill, Stephanopoulos pushes his subjects, but never too far.
And while 2020 has been bleak for network shows trying to nab access to administration officials, Stephanopoulos scored a huge get with an ABC News town hall that featured President Trump himself. The result was a revealing and rare opportunity for viewers to see Trump face tough questions from an interviewer not considered to be “friendly” to the administration.
