Mediaite’s Most Influential in News Media 2025
65. Harris Faulkner
Harris Faulkner is the only Fox News host you see back-to-back, every day. Faulkner helms her own show, The Faulkner Focus, at 11 a.m. before kicking off the afternoon slate as one of Outnumbered’s three mainstays — alongside Kayleigh McEnany and Emily Compagno. Both shows have finished inside the top 10 most-watched cable news programs in each of the first three quarters of 2025 while drawing approximately 2 million viewers per broadcast. And every show that finished above them, it should be noted, airs in a more favorable time in the afternoon or evening.
A proven talent known for both her tough questions and impassioned monologues, Faulkner has established herself as a dominant force in the middle of the workday — one whose ability to draw high-profile guests as well as steward fun segments on the Outnumbered couch has range and something to offer everyone. Part-anchor, part-culture warrior, and part-company elder, Faulkner wears many hats for the most influential network in the industry, and that affords her the kind of influence most in media would kill for.
64. Stephanie Ruhle
Stephanie Ruhle has long been a highly respected business reporter but 2025 may have been a breakout year for her hosting her MS NOW show, The 11th Hour. While offering punchy and often cutting commentary on the Trump administration, Ruhle also brings the data to back it up. She pulls down double duty at MS NOW as she is also the network’s senior business analyst — a role she gave up at NBC News after the spinoff.
Ruhle’s upbeat delivery has also translated to viral success. Her “what you really need to know” breakdown of Trump’s $2,000 tariff checks was one of her network’s top YouTube clips — scoring nearly 2 million views. She also launched a Q&A livestream series on the platform which reunited her with her former partner Ali Velshi — a testament to the network’s strategy to build an online community focused around its most popular personalities.
Ruhle has firmly established herself as the most voicey option on cable news at 11 p.m. — crushing CNN in the ratings during that timeslot. As MS NOW continues to reposition itself in the cable news space, Ruhle is a critical, maybe occasionally underappreciated player at the network, covering her beat with mastery and now firmly entrenched as one of their top hosts too.
63. Harry Enten
It can be challenging for a number-cruncher at a news network to carve out a niche during years in which there’s no presidential election, or even a midterm. But Harry Enten, CNN’s chief data analyst, has managed to do it by presenting wonky information in hyper-compelling fashion — emphasis on the hyper. Enten’s energetic delivery makes it impossible to ignore him when he’s on screen.
And he’s found a way to distill complex data into easily digestible conclusions that set the narrative. He helped kill Elon Musk’s third party fantasy before it got off the ground with a devastating segment on his unpopularity. And he’s gotten Donald Trump’s attention — as the president wildly tried to spin Enten’s findings during an August interview on CNBC. And chances are Trump actually saw Enten — not on CNN — but on Fox News, where he makes regular, unwitting appearances, as hosts often tout his findings when they fit their narrative, or critique them when they don’t.
Either way, they know that what Harry Enten says matters. And heading into next year he will be an even more regular fixture along with NBC data guru Steve Kornacki and election poll sherpa Nate Silver.
62. Bill Hemmer
The Fox News anchor had a big 2025 both behind the anchor desk and out in the field. The highlight came when Hemmer got some remarkable, rare access inside Gaza — giving Americans a look inside the very challenging efforts to distribute aid inside the war-ravaged territory. The unique perspective he gained made his interview, days later, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu all the more important and illuminating.
Tough but respectful interviews were a hallmark of Hemmer’s 2025. Numerous Trump administration officials visited him and America’s Newsroom colleague Dana Perino and came away worse for the wear — as Hemmer consistently pressed them. He also often got them to open up and make big news. One major example was a splashy showdown with FCC Chair Brendan Carr — in which Hemmer boldly confronted him on whether President Trump was involved in the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s show on CBS. Yet somehow, even in this media environment, just about everyone, even long lost former CNN colleagues, still really like Bill Hemmer.
The anchor’s versatile, strong body of work drew big audiences to his show. America’s Newsroom regularly approaches 2 million total viewers in a time slot where you just don’t see staggering figures like that. Hemmer’s show hit an all-time high in 2025, and there’s no reason to think he won’t do it again in 2026.
61. Rachel Scott
(Sipa via AP Images)
From the briefing room to the Oval Office, reporters in the White House press corps have served as foils for the Trump administration. But arguably none have been as persistent and focused as ABC senior political correspondent Rachel Scott.
In May, Scott confronted President Trump over reports that Qatar’s royal family had offered him a $400 million luxury jet to use as Air Force One. Trump shot back: “You should be embarrassed asking that,” before branding ABC “fake news.” Weeks later, during a gaggle at the White House, Scott asked about Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, prompting Trump to sneer: “I figured ABC Fake News would ask that.”
And Trump wasn’t the only world leader whose feet were held to the fire by Rachel Scott. At the summit meeting in Alaska back in August, Scott asked Vladimir Putin whether he would “stop killing civilians” in Ukraine — giving absolutely no quarter to the intimidating Russian leader in a high-stakes showdown.
No moment has proved too big, and no adversary too tough for Scott — who, at just 32 years old, is clearly one of the brightest young stars in all of media. It’s little wonder ABC News insiders’ faces light up when they talk about her. It’s clear the network has big plans for Rachel Scott.
60. CNN News Central (John Berman, Kate Bolduan, and Sara Sidner)
John Berman, Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner have proven to have reliable chemistry co-anchoring CNN’s morning show, a lucky break for the network after previous stumbles with its a.m. programming led to multiple staffing shuffles.
The New York City anchor team has been finding their footing this year with growing ratings —posting gains year-over-year. The pre-lunch show keeps its programming a bit lighter than CNN’s evening fare, having fun covering stories ranging from a startlingly dangerous cheese rolling race and — in one notable viral segment — a botched backflip by a Savannah Bananas baseball player live in the studio.
But the fun and frivolous moments don’t mean they aren’t rolling out meaningful journalism. The trio frequently feature solid analyses from colleagues like Elie Honig and Harry Enten and substantive interviews with members of Congress, with all three anchors bringing the receipts to hold elected officials accountable. Berman’s recent verbal sparring match with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) stands out as a particularly noteworthy example of that. Yes, CNN’s numbers aren’t what they once were, but three hours of morning TV on CNN is still prime real estate — and these three are making the most of it.
59. Kristen Welker
The moderator of NBC’s Meet the Press had another big year in 2025 — landing a series of big-ticket interviews and finding success in the Sunday morning ratings wars. Under Welker’s steady stewardship, MTP clinched the #1 spot in the advertiser-coveted adults 25-54 demo for nine consecutive months. The highlight may have been her May sitdown with President Trump, one of the most probing sitdowns with Trump of the year and which dominated news cycles for days. Welker was able to get Trump to make the staggering statement that he doesn’t know whether he needs to uphold the Constitution as president.
In recent weeks, she also scored the first interview with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani on the heels of his stunning Oval Office meeting with the president. To those who say the Sunday shows are badly in need of a revamp, Welker’s ability to get newsmakers, and make news, may offer evidence to the contrary.
58. Trey Yingst
Fresh off his promotion to Fox News chief foreign correspondent, and the October 2024 publication of his book Black Saturday, Yingst has continued to excel at the hard and dangerous work abroad, including his universally respected reporting on Israel’s conflict in Gaza.
In October, Yingst landed an interview with President Trump about his Israel-Hamas ceasefire peace deal. The president praised Yingst during that interview — telling him, “you’re really professional.” And that compliment was particularly notable, given that Yingst delivered a stinging rebuke of Trump — without naming him — when he was honored with the Radio Television Digital News Association’s First Amendment Award back in March.
“We live in a dangerous time of attacks on journalists, of misinformation, and of efforts to silence those who are holding truth to power,” Yingst said. “Our work is more important now than ever. The First Amendment is more important now than ever. Journalists are not the enemy of the people. Journalists are the voice of the people.“
Some might say that speech showed Yingst has guts — but frankly, it was nothing compared to the guts he shows with his fearless reporting from the front lines. Yingst spent the summer reporting on Iranian ballistic missile strikes from on-the-ground in Tel Aviv, continually putting himself in dangerous spots to bring viewers the story.
57. Erin Burnett
Erin Burnett has been a mainstay on cable news for decades, but she never seems to mail it in. By CNN standards, she continued a solid ratings performance this year — with her 7 p.m. program OutFront often landing as CNN’s most-watched show in total viewers and sometimes topping the coveted 25-54 demographic as well.
A big factor has been the anchor’s ability to conduct insightful but respectful interviews with marquee guests. Among others, Burnett has welcomed New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, Jeffrey Epstein’s brother Mark Epstein, and a long list of members of Congress from both sides of the aisle.
Burnett has been a key player in the Epstein story. In addition to the illuminating interviews with Mark Epstein, OutFront was the first to broadcast newly-unearthed images of Trump and Epstein at several events — a big deal considering only a few such photos of the two together have been made public.
And in a nod to how network hierarchy sees her, Burnett was sent out on the road on numerous occasions in 2025 — making clear CNN brass wants viewers to see Burnett where the big stories are. She provided heartbreaking, yet vital reporting on the Palisades fires — including several emotionally devastating interviews with local residents and firefighters. Erin Burnett remains a name you know, and trust, and in an era of distrust in the media, that is influence.
56. Jeffrey Goldberg
In between running what some would say is America’s most influential magazine, making a series of high-profile additions to it, and securing a sit-down with President Donald Trump, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg somehow managed to break the story of the year. One might argue that Goldberg being added to a Signal group chat in which Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and other Trump administration heavyweights discussed plans for a U.S. strike on Yemen’s Houthi rebels by then-National Security Adviser Mike Waltz represented a stroke of dumb luck. But then again, that would not be doing it justice. Goldberg’s accidental inclusion in the chat was a tribute to his widespread connections and influence, which produced an earth-shattering scoop about American national security officials’ reckless practices.
Even had he not broken the Signalgate story, Goldberg’s 2025 résumé was more than impressive. Last year, The Atlantic announced that under his stewardship, it was finally profitable, a fact underlined by the expensive hiring spree it went on this year. On Goldberg’s watch, The Atlantic has developed into a one-stop shop for good day-to-day reporting, notable profiles, and long, ideologically diverse thinkpieces. And his elevated status within the industry is so undeniable that even Trump inadvertently admitted to it when, just a month after he deemed him a “sleazebag,” he welcomed him to the White House for an interview.
NEXT PAGE: See who made the cut for our #55-46 selections!
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