Mediaite’s Most Influential in News Media 2021
35. Tiffany Cross
Just before the end of 2021, MSNBC’s Tiffany Cross celebrated a full year as host of her Saturday show. It was quite a year for The Cross Connection, which took the spot vacated by Joy Reid’s move to weekdays. Cross’s guest list is unapologetically progressive, like her commentary, including frequent visits from members of Congress, like progressive caucus leadership, members of The Squad, and the other public faces of the movement. An opinion host and influencer, Cross focuses on progressive ideas, progressive policy, and progressive views, with a particular focus on issues of race and social justice. MSNBC attracts one of the largest Black audiences in cable TV, and The Cross Connection routinely beats CNN in the time slot. Clips from her show appear on other networks (often as fodder for the right), and her social media presence is huge. Her name has even come up when observers talk about who MSNBC might select to replace outgoing Brian Williams at 11 p.m. For a first-year, or any year, that’s a lot of influence.
34. Anderson Cooper
Anderson Cooper is one of CNN’s most recognizable faces. He’s been anchoring his namesake show since 2003, a staggering run that shows no signs of ending anytime soon. Anderson Cooper 360 has changed timeslots and format over the years, but has been the centerpiece of CNN’s prime time line-up at 8 p.m. since 2011. Cooper regularly hosts panel discussions, town halls, and other events on the network as well, including CNN Heroes. The event, which recognizes ordinary people who do extraordinary deeds, very much embodies the personal feel Cooper brings to the air. He often highlights the personal side of the stories he covers and regularly delves into his own personal struggles on air. Adding to his influence, Cooper also works as a correspondent on CBS’ long-running news show 60 Minutes.
33. Chuck Todd
The moderator of Meet the Press guided the show to its sixth consecutive yearly victory over its Sunday morning rivals in the key demographic in 2021. Seldom does a Sunday go by where Chuck Todd hasn’t helped shape the agenda for the day — and in many cases, the entire week — in Washington. His interviews are routinely among the most compelling in all of politics. While other Sunday hosts have denied platforms to Republicans who pushed the “Big Lie,” Todd routinely welcomed them in 2021 — and the results were regularly entertaining, and sometimes made a good case for debating even ugly ideas. On top of his moderation of Meet the Press, Todd hosts a daily MSNBC show, a podcast, and has seriously expanded his work for NBC’s streaming platform — ensuring the MTP franchise will be a mainstay for years to come. There are few hosts in all of television who so frequently take slings and arrows from both the left and the right. That’s generally a sign of a journalist doing something right, and a commentator whose opinions matter too much to ignore.
32. Harris Faulkner
Harris Faulkner commands two hours of Fox’s daytime programming — The Faulkner Focus and Outnumbered — both of which draw more viewers than the competition on MSNBC and CNN combined. Faulkner isn’t just paving the way in the ratings either: She’s the first Black woman to anchor a weekday cable news show, and was selected by Fox News as one of the rotating hosts to replace Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday until a full-time anchor is named to the show. It’s no surprise: Faulkner has demonstrated a knack for scoring big interviews. She conducted Donald Trump’s first interview after leaving office, the occasion being the death of legendary conservative radio anchor Rush Limbaugh. Since, she has hosted politicians on both sides of the aisle for straight, sometimes tough, interrogations on the news of the day.
31. Brian Stelter
Brian Stelter is CNN’s Swiss Army knife of media reporting: chief media correspondent, anchor of Reliable Sources, and author of the Reliable Sources newsletter, which remains the last thing everyone in the cable news industry reads before bed (or the first thing they read in the morning, depending on what show they work for). Stelter has been dividing newsletter duties with CNN senior media reporter Oliver Darcy, who has proven himself to be one of the most fearless reporters on the beat, with solid on-air chops to boot. Stelter had no shortage of media stories in 2021, including one that hit uncomfortably close to home: the Chris and Andrew Cuomo media spectacle-turned-scandal. It was a minefield of a story for the network, and its chief media correspondent, who reluctantly tackled it (with mixed results). Stelter’s commentary frequently draws right-wing ire, but that hasn’t stopped him from taking on Fox News. In fact, in 2021 Stelter seemed to more freely and aggressively attack Fox than ever before. Whether it’s breaking down Tucker Carlson’s NSA spying claims, his anti-vaccine rhetoric, or other assorted conspiracy theories, Stelter kept the focus on what he viewed this year as “the story behind the story.”
30. Laura Ingraham
Capping off her fourth year at Fox News, 10 p.m. host Laura Ingraham is more influential than ever among conservatives — a role evidenced, in part, by December’s explosive revelation that she was among the handful of conservative leaders who personally contacted the former president’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, urging him to tell the president to command Jan. 6 protesters to “go home.” But she’s also a leading talent at her network, where she has prevailed for the second consecutive year as the most-watched female in cable news among viewers in the 25-54 demographic. With an average haul of 2.66 million viewers, she was her network’s fifth-most watched program in November. She also proved an ability to drive conversation beyond politics with a well-executed bit with Raymond Arroyo in November that went massively viral.
29. Chris Wallace
Chris Wallace was our most influential person in news media last year in large part due to his incredible performance moderating one of the 2020 presidential debates. In 2021, Wallace remained a steadfast example of journalistic integrity as a nonpartisan voice at the helm of a Sunday show on a conservative network — until he turned the world of cable news upside down. The Fox News Sunday host announced in December that he was leaving the network after 18 years to host a program on CNN’s soon-to-launch streaming platform, embarking on what he called a “new adventure.” The consequences of his departure are broad: It’s a boon to CNN, another sign that cable news sees streaming as its future, and a gut punch to Fox’s news division. Fox has no shortage of popular opinion commentators and guests, but a straight news division that had yet to replace Shepard Smith now has even bigger shoes to fill.
28. Lester Holt
The NBC Nightly News anchor remains one of – if not the – most authoritative anchors in evening broadcast news. While David Muir at ABC News reigns supreme when it comes to the ratings, Holt still attracts millions of viewers per night. He ended the last season with a staggering 7.32 million nightly viewers, and 1.41 million in the younger demo. Holt has maintained influence in media not just through ratings, but thanks to commentary and interviews that made news themselves. One was on Jan. 15 when he pressed then-Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on the Trump administration’s disastrous vaccine rollout. Another was in June with Vice President Kamala Harris, who completely flubbed when Holt pressed her on why she hasn’t visited the Southern Border. Beyond those newsmaking interviews, Holt dished out powerful monologues befitting a year marred by somber news.
27. Bret Baier
Bret Baier has long served as the straight face behind Special Report, the jewel of Fox’s daily hard news operation. Yet unlike Fox’s other news shows, past and present, Special Report draws an outsized audience. Indeed, while Shepard Smith’s show always struggled in the ratings, Special Report regularly ranks as one of the top five shows on the channel and in all of cable news. In 2021, the show averaged an impressive 2.1 million viewers and 332,000 in the younger demo. Amid the clatter of news this year, Baier found time to publish a book, To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876. He won’t get to rest anytime soon: with the departure of Chris Wallace from Fox News Sunday, there’s only one name at Fox News who is considered heir apparent, and it’s Bret Baier.
26. Ben Shapiro
Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images
Ben Shapiro stepped down as editor in chief of the Daily Wire last year. But he has remained closely involved in the operations of the conservative blog, which attracts tens of millions of monthly visitors. That success is due in large part to Shapiro having cracked the code on Facebook, where his personal page boasts more followers than the Washington Post and the Daily Wire page draws higher engagement than any other news publisher. The 37-year-old firebrand is also the host of a hit podcast, The Ben Shapiro Show, which regularly lands at the top of the podcast charts. He’s been in the political arena since he was 17, but continued to court controversy and headlines in 2021. His turn guest-editing Politico Playbook prompted an industry-wide meltdown. The Daily Wire has become a haven for victims of cancel culture, adding former ESPN reporter Allison Williams and former Mandalorian actress Gina Carano to its ranks after both were fired. And now, Shapiro has emerged as a loud critic of vaccine mandates, suing the Biden administration over its vaccine or test requirement for big businesses — leaving behind, like many times before, a roadmap for others in conservative media.
