Mediaite’s Most Influential in News Media 2022
25. Jonathan Karl
Photo via ABC/Randy Sager.
Jonathan Karl landed in the top ten last year on the strength of his bestseller Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show, which fueled many a news-cycle in much the same way that Maggie Haberman’s much-buzzed-about book Confidence Man did this year. But even without a red-hot book, Karl remains one of the most influential political media figures in the news business. As co-anchor of This Week, Karl is at the helm of one of the most influential Sunday political talk shows in the country. As a chief political correspondent for ABC News, Karl continues to provide crucial reporting, and his years of experience as a tough questioner on the White House beat give him journalistic cred that puts him near the top of the pack. Karl’s influence is bolstered by his unrivaled relationships. There may be no reporter better connected with both sides of the political aisle than Karl. That allows him to keep a step ahead of the competition and makes him a coveted guest on the cable networks to discuss his scoops.
24. Anderson Cooper
Photo by Dominik Bindl/Getty Images
Anderson Cooper is a rare news personality recognizable by his first name alone (maybe only second to Tucker?). He’s been holding down his namesake show on CNN since 2003 – making this its 20th year. Cooper’s run on cable news is one for the history books, although still behind Sean Hannity, and appears poised to keep going as long as Cooper is willing. Now anchoring his 8 to 10 p.m. show weeknights and regularly the top-rated host on CNN, Cooper still finds time to host other events on the network like town halls and CNN’s “Heroes.” This year Cooper also hosted the podcast All There Is, which launched in early September. Billed as “a deeply personal exploration of loss and grief,” Cooper recorded his experience “packing up the apartment of his late mother Gloria Vanderbilt” as well “as things left behind by his father and brother.” The podcast received rave reviews from the New York Times, among others, and showed the vulnerable side of the usually cool and collected anchor. If he wasn’t busy enough, Cooper is also a correspondent on CBS News’s long-running 60 Minutes.
23. Charlamagne tha God
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There’s little question that Charlamagne co-hosts the most influential morning radio show in New York (sorry Ebro). The Breakfast Club features compelling interviews with the hottest cultural and political figures, and Charlamagne has long been its most newsworthy host. It was no surprise, then, that Comedy Central tapped Charlamagne to host a late night show, executive produced by Stephen Colbert and airing right after The Daily Show. As the 2024 election campaign heats up, you can be sure Democrats will flock to Charlamagne for interviews — and even a nod of approval. But the real reason Charlamagne gets such high placement is thanks to commentary that is consistently prosaic, commonsensical, and belies the traditional groupthink we have become so inured to in today’s political media landscape. Charlamagne does the seemingly impossible — he calls it as he sees it — without fear or favor. Whenever he shows up on cable news, whether it be Fox News, CNN, or MSNBC, there’s a good chance viewers will hear a point of view they haven’t been exposed to. With that kind of commentary comes serious influence.
22. Megyn Kelly
In 2022, Megyn Kelly proved she could definitely do it on her own. After cutting her teeth with major hosting jobs at Fox News and NBC, Kelly managed to find an audience without backing of a major network with The Megyn Kelly Show, an independent podcast she launched and grew popular enough for SiriusXM to pick it up last year. Kelly ruffled feathers at Fox News thanks to her aggressive coverage of Trump during the 2016 campaign, and that pugilistic posture hasn’t waned since she went independent. She’s proven in the last year she’s ready and willing to stand her ground and defend her coverage against critics, like when she fired back at the New York Times for questioning her commentary on the Paul Pelosi attack. Megyn Kelly takes no prisoners in her takedowns, calling Jon Stewart a “prick” over his treatment of Andrew Sullivan and joining in the chorus of voices criticizing Trump’s reelection announcement, informing the former president he’d nearly put her to sleep. Hate her or love her, Megyn Kelly is a cable news star who left television news and proved that for a select few, the pastures actually can be greener on the other side in more ways than one.
21. Kara Swisher
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Kara Swisher is considered to be one of the toughest interviews and most insightful voices in tech media, something she reminds listeners of twice a week on her new and immediately influential podcast On With Kara Swisher. Swisher, who also co-hosts the podcast Pivot, rejoined Vox Media this year after a stint at the New York Times. She kicked off her new solo podcast at the end of September by interviewing former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo and has since had everyone on from Maggie Haberman to Matt Levine to Chris Licht. While much of her last two months have focused on her longtime subject Elon Musk, who she recently called her “greatest disappointment,” Swisher also tackles everything from the economy to politics to Taylor Swift. And while she’s tough enough for Musk to call her “an asshole,” she also brings a much-welcome sense of evenhandedness and transparency to her interviews, always letting the listener know about her preconceptions on any given topic. Pivot remains one of the most informative podcasts out there for listeners looking for in-depth takes on complex issues in business and politics. Kara Swisher is a brand, which in today’s fractured media is the golden goose.
20. Joe Rogan
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The podcast titan’s year kicked off with a pair of controversies — as he came under enormous criticism both for spreading Covid misinformation and using racial slurs in unearthed videos. But Rogan issued a pair of apologies, and Spotify, which hosts his podcast, stood behind him — even as angry employees and prominent musicians demanded his ouster. The level of scrutiny he is now subjected to speaks to his considerable power, and indeed his podcast remains no. 1 on the Spotify charts. High-profile, newsmaking interviews with Mark Zuckerberg and Aaron Rodgers ranked among Rogan’s most notable episodes in 2022. But Rogan doesn’t need A-listers to bring in a massive audience, the big-ticket interviews are just a bonus for Spotify — whose gigantic $200 million pact with the podcaster, somehow, feels like a bargain.
19. Peter Doocy
Screenshot via Fox News
Peter Doocy continued his run this year as one of the most influential White House reporters of the Biden era. He slipped a little in the rankings this year, partially due to the departure of Jen Psaki, which has left Doocy without his most effective sparring partner, and generally sapped some of the interest in White House briefings. Doocy’s rise began in 2020 when his provocative questioning of the Biden campaign made him the star of many a viral moment, aided by Joe Biden’s frequent jabs at the young reporter. When candidate Biden became President Biden, Doocy got a promotion to the White House press corps, where he continued to draw attention through near-daily jousts with Psaki and occasional crackling exchanges with the president himself. Despite the tense public skirmishes, Doocy has maintained a respectful relationship with Biden’s press shop. But the true measure of Doocy’s influence is in the way he shapes coverage of the Biden White House — including on other networks. As even his critics point out, reporters from the major TV news outlets frequently follow Doocy’s lead, and turn his lines of questioning into full-fledged media narratives.
18. Rashida Jones, Cesar Conde, and Noah Oppenheim
Rashida Jones made history when she was named president of MSNBC, becoming the highest-ranking Black woman in television news. The network underwent major changes in 2022, including star anchor Rachel Maddow’s transition to one night a week and the elevation of Alex Wagner, who now anchors the remaining weekdays. She expanded on successful shows like Morning Joe and ousted hosts that brought headaches, like Tiffany Cross. The changes at MSNBC have brought with them the opportunity to give a new lick of paint to a network that remains the home for progressives, with consistent ratings made possible under Jones’s watch.
Noah Oppenheim, meanwhile, has continued to oversee a news operation that remains a gold standard for ratings and reporting. NBC broke a series of major stories in 2022, including one courtesy of famed correspondent Pete Williams, who reported first on the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer – who ended up being replaced by Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman on the nation’s highest court. Williams later rode off into the sunset after 29 years at the network.
All of this happened, of course, under the watchful eye of Cesar Conde, the all-powerful chairman of NBC News and MSNBC’s parent company, NBCUniversal.
17. Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines, Alyssa Farah Griffin, and Ana Navarro
After a season in limbo, the ABC daytime talk show finally filled its conservative seat in September with Alyssa Farah Griffin. And while the MAGA crowd may question her Republican bona fides, she does — little by little — appear to be finding her footing on the show, and is getting more comfortable mixing it up with her colleagues. And her emergence has been key to what has been a bounceback year for The View, after a season-long post-Meghan McCain hangover. The show is trending back upwards in the ratings, and the growth looks set to continue as the new cast gets more comfortable with each other. Also key to the show’s resurgence in 2022 was Sara Haines. With Farah Griffin often siding with the majority, it’s been on Haines to step up more as a voice of opposition. And she has — memorably debating her colleagues topics like affirmative action and the state of the GOP. Expect the show to be even higher on next year’s list, as it positions itself to be a crucial media venue in the 2024 presidential derby.
16. Jesse Watters
2022 was the year Jesse Watters became a made man at Fox News. The young host, who got his start doing man-on-the-street interviews for Bill O’Reilly (remember the polos?), landed his own show this year in the coveted 7 p.m. hour. Jesse Watters Primetime has since become a ratings juggernaut in its own right. What’s more: Watters still mans the middle seat on The Five, now the most watched show in all of cable news. His combined viewership was more than 6.8 million total viewers in November – making him far and above the most-watched figure on cable news on a daily basis. Watters anchors with the demeanor of a cheeky everyman, but pulls no punches in sparring with his co-hosts on The Five or tearing into the left. As the ground on the American right continues to shift, a trend to watch out for is whether or not Watters begins to catch up to Tucker Carlson in the ratings. Watters, perhaps more of a typical conservative than Carlson, spent much of 2022 covering issues like crime, the border, and hyping potential House GOP investigations into the Biden administration, which seem likely to dominate 2023.
