Mediaite’s Most Influential in News Media 2025
5. David Muir
Night after night, the anchor of ABC’s World News Tonight proves that any obituaries written for network TV’s evening newscast are completely premature. David Muir ends 2025 as the host of the most-watched news program on all of television — having built an ardent following of millions who trust him to deliver them the nightly news and remain loyal in an ever-fragmenting media environment.
Muir, who has helmed ABC’s World News Tonight since 2014, ended the year, for the tenth consecutive time, at No. 1. Early December saw him averaging a whopping 8.4 million viewers a week, with more than 1 million more watching him on YouTube every single night.
The anchor takes his audience to newsmaking hotspots in ways others may not. For example, he was the only nightly news anchor to report from the California wildfires. He also broadcast from the scene of the devastating Texas floods, from Israel as hostages were being returned, and from Rome as a new Pope was named.
ABC’s World News Tonight, under Muir’s leadership, has also been expanding beyond its linear television success, keeping up with the trends in alternative spaces. The show has gotten heavy play on streaming platforms Disney+ and Hulu (open Hulu and you’re just as likely to see Muir’s face pop up on the home screen as you are the Mormon Wives). And World News Tonight is even the top news show on TikTok and YouTube, doubling its nearest competitor on the latter platform. Muir also ends the year having won the top honor at the Emmy Awards for Outstanding Live News Program, chosen by his peers.
The Hollywood Reporter’s annual poll of the most-trusted people in the news business had Muir replacing NBC’s Lester Holt who stepped down from NBC Nightly News last year, as the most trusted anchor in the U.S. Of the 80 media stars polled (only Al Roker was deemed more trustworthy.) In an era where confidence has plummeted, more people are naturally going to seek out the few sources they believe in. And it’s clear: America trusts David Muir. And they watch him — in very big numbers.
4. Suzanne Scott
The CEO of Fox News since 2018, Suzanne Scott is not just one of the most powerful and influential people in news media, she is also one of the most successful — as Fox continues to dominate its industry and grow under her leadership. At a time in media when linear television is on the decline, Fox News has managed to not only maintain its audience, but find new viewers.
Scott has recently succeeded in overseeing a potentially perilous prime-time lineup shakeup while growing a successful streaming business — both of which have paid major dividends to the massive Murdoch media empire. Fox Nation was an early bet on streaming, and now it’s seeing prestige moments as heavyweights like Martin Scorsese and Kevin Costner have contributed series to the streamer in 2025. And 50 Cent and Kim Kardashian also launched Fox Nation projects.
In July, Fox announced a licensing agreement with the popular Ruthless podcast, the latest move within the company to make clear Fox is prepping to compete with the rise of YouTube influencers and podcasts.
And while Scott revs up the new media machine, the old media machine she oversees is still making lots of money for Fox. Its book imprint, Fox News Books, has put out 17 consecutive national bestsellers — Dr. Marc Siegel’s Miracles Among Us being the most recent, topping The New York Times bestseller list in November.
The Fox News chief continues to deftly helm the network through the Trump years, which has seen the network come under fire from Trump while remaining one of his key allies and sources of support. Scott and her stable of opinion hosts and anchors shape public opinion on the right as much as any other outlet out there while turning a whopping profit. Scott is certain to remain at the forefront of American media as Fox looks to expand, make more acquisitions, and reshape its offerings to compete with alternative media. Suzanne Scott isn’t just succeeding in the news business, she is making a major mark in the media more broadly.
3. Megyn Kelly
(Alex Brandon/AP photo)
Megyn Kelly is no longer just a popular news star, she’s a pioneering media industry entrepreneur and innovator. In 2025, the former Fox News anchor launched MK Media, a podcast network featuring a number of new shows, including Next Up with Mark Halperin, hosted by the plugged-in veteran reporter who’s made quite a few waves of his own this year.
Of course, the golden goose that gave birth to MK Media is Kelly’s own wildly successful SiriusXM radio program, The Megyn Kelly Show, which is now available on “The Megyn Kelly Channel,” which Sirius gave her as part of a new, multi-year deal with the eponymous host. With a blend of nuanced legal analysis, conservative shock jock fodder, and some of the hardest to book high-profile guests, Kelly has carved out much more than a niche for herself within the right-wing alternative media ecosphere. Spotify’s rankings place her in the Top 10 for news podcasts. On all-important YouTube, she boasts more than 4 million devoted subscribers.
Kelly is so popular, that she took it on the road like a rock star this fall — hosting live events across the country featuring the likes of Ben Shapiro, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Tucker Carlson, Charlie Sheen, Rich Lowry, and Erika Kirk. That so many heavy hitters showed up for her is a testament to her wide influence and appeal. But she often doesn’t even need the guests, “Megyn’s take” in and of itself, has become enormously influential within the administration and across conservative media.
Anyone still talking about her acrimonious departure from NBC years ago is missing the point. Quoting from the 1979 movie Meatballs, “It Just Doesn’t Matter.” Kelly is now far bigger than that role could have ever made her. In a time of transition for the Fourth Estate, Kelly has not only created the survival blueprint for legacy media castoffs, but a true roadmap for anyone with an eye toward building a wildly profitable business in the media industry.
2. Joe Scarborough & Mika Brzezinski
Even with Donald Trump back in the White House, America’s political power players in Washington, DC, New York City and yes, even Palm Beach and beyond, start their mornings with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. Whether it’s members of Congress catching the show at the gym, lobbyists watching it while grabbing coffee, or Hill staffers boning up on the news they know their bosses will be asking about, Morning Joe’s influence in political circles remains enormous and likely unparalleled.
Joe and Mika set the daily agenda for a political class scrambling to keep up with the breakneck speed of the Trump administration and a media ecosystem drowning in content and takes. Their skillsets complement each other with Scarborough as master of the monologue — while Brzezinski has become one of the most incisive interviewers on cable news. In fact, Joe’s sometimes unpredictable monologues are often more newsworthy than anything his high-profile guests have to say. Throw in the chemistry of the married co-hosts, and you’ve got yourself four hours of top-flight morning television. Morning Joe was a must-watch for Joe Biden when he sat in the Oval Office. And it’s a must-watch for the current resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as well — whatever he might say about them publicly.
The Trump administration just cannot stay away from this powerful duo. Back in September, Border Czar Tom Homan was intensely grilled by Brzezinski about ICE detainments — in one of the most heated cable news segments of the entire year. And despite the White House denouncing the show and Brzezinski after that segment, they’ve continued to send officials like Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and others to the show to sell their policy — because they know how important the Morning Joe audience is.
While Fox & Friends wins the cable morning show ratings battle overall by a significant margin, in terms of setting policy and agenda for the day, Morning Joe racks up the key viewers inside the Beltway and New York City, topping the ratings in those major media markets. The show also pulls in the most daily podcast downloads for the network and will end 2025 with an utterly massive 135 million YouTube views.
With MSNBC having rebranded to MS NOW, Joe and Mika are at the center of the network’s strategy to double down on asking tough questions of the Trump administration. Oh, by the way, remember the liberal doomsdayers screaming about them visiting Trump at Mar-a-Lago after he was elected? Well, they have demonstrated through words and actions that it was an invented controversy. And that is part of what makes the show so influential. Unlike the echo chamber programs, the show won’t always please liberals, making the Morning Joe “take” that much more important every morning.
1. The Five (Jesse Watters, Greg Gutfeld, Dana Perino, Jessica Tarlov, and Harold Ford Jr.)
In its three decades on the air, Fox News has been a factory for shows that have been No. 1 on the cable news ratings charts. The O’Reilly Factor. Tucker Carlson Tonight. Hannity & Colmes. Hannity sans Colmes. One hit after another.
Those shows had subtle differences, but one thing they had in common was that they all aired during prime time. And that certainly stands to reason. Because until recently, the idea that the most-watched show on cable news could take place outside of that 8-11 p.m. window seemed totally blasphemous. It makes complete sense for the top-rated show to be on when everyone is home from work.
But then The Five came along. Particularly this Five. A quintet of panelists debating the news of the day with just the right mix of passion and whimsy. Not exactly a groundbreaking idea when it launched in 2011, but now the ultimate winner.
In 2017, the show made its most crucial casting decision — putting a fresh-faced Jesse Watters on the daily panel alongside Five original Greg Gutfeld. Some asked at the time whether a panel of five can really thrive with two men whose commentary both rely so heavily on sarcasm. The answer, a resounding yes.
Each forged his own path, and figured out how to play off the other brilliantly. Watters does it with charm, Gutfeld with intentional smarm (he is very much in on the joke). Both bring their own unique skill sets to the table, and now both are bona fide stars.
The duo has been instrumental in making The Five not only the biggest show in cable news, but often, the biggest show in all of cable TV (save for sports-related programming). Every afternoon, an audience of roughly 3.5 million total viewers tunes in for the banter and the battles. They’re the No. 1-rated show in all of television during their time slot. They are unstoppable and unrivaled.
It starts with Watters and Gutfeld — the key cogs in what has become a well-oiled machine. As separate entrants, they would both land Top 10 spots on this list. Each has made an enormous mark on their own — as both helm primetime shows which dominate their time slots. (Both Gutfeld! and Jesse Watters Primetime hit all-time ratings highs in 2025.)
But on The Five, they consistently prove that the whole can maybe, just maybe, be greater than the sum of its parts. Watters is the popular kid who doesn’t take anything too seriously. Gutfeld is the cool class clown. They play off each other incredibly well, and are each confident enough to pull back and let the other have his moments when it gets hot.
Of course, there’s much more to the show than that or them. Dana Perino is the glue that keeps it all together. She is a steadying presence who knows how to let her hair down during the more whimsical moments, and steer the ship when the proceedings get more serious. The show would not work nearly as well without her at its center. And she, too, has carved out her own success independent of The Five. America’s Newsroom, the two-hour morning news block Perino anchors with Bill Hemmer, hit a ratings high in 2025 — regularly approaching and often topping 2 million viewers per show.
And then there’s the liberal seat — whose two rotating occupants bring something very distinct, and very critical to the roundtable. Harold Ford Jr. is the more moderate of The Five’s two “lefties.” His concurrence on a given topic is a signal that MAGA can dig in on that issue. But when he breaks from his colleagues, it’s a warning sign that independents are disenchanted as well.
But the show is at its very best when the more progressive Jessica Tarlov is seated in the second chair from the left. Left-wing media clip sharers race to hit the record button when it’s a Tarlov day, because chances are she’s going to find herself in a 1-on-4 battle. And she’s going to hold her own. You could argue that Tarlov is the most important liberal voice in America — simply by virtue of the fact that it is one of the few that many Fox News viewers may ever hear. Far from a zealot, and far from a pushover, her unique ability to fight so well with the deck stacked against her is part of what makes The Five so compelling.
Yet even though the quibbles can get heated, the crew heals quickly. By the next segment, they’re ready to laugh with each other all over again. They’ve already buried the hatchet during the commercial break.
Between them, this crew holds down five hours per day of the biggest Fox News programming. As individuals, each is incredibly influential in news media. As a team, they’re downright dominant and they are Mediaite’s Most Influential in News Media in 2025.