Mediaite’s Most Influential in News Media 2019
55. James Goldston
2019 was another banner year for ABC News and the network’s chief, James Goldston. World News Tonight and Good Morning America scored big ratings compared to competitors, and GMA anchor George Stephanopoulos had one of the most important interviews of the year, in which President Trump in a long, in depth sit-down revealed that he would consider opposition research provided by a foreign entity. Under his leadership, the network has grown its staff and is looking to continue a hiring spree — one of the biggest in history. ABC’s Democratic primary debate earned plaudits, as well as viewers: 14 million tuned in to watch the presidential candidates face questions from ABC stars David Muir, Linsey Davis and George Stephanopoulos. It was a promising harbinger for ABC and Goldston going into the 2020 election season.
54. Margaret Brennan
The Sunday interview shows have typically been a “boys club” of sorts, but Margaret Brennan has made waves breaking through as the steely moderator of CBS’ venerable Face The Nation. She displays a disarming, almost Socratic ideal of interviewing in her pieces: genuinely asking questions of her subjects and drawing them through to their logical conclusion – taking a little more time to try to expose the truth past the talking points. This is best showcased in high-profile interviews like her showdown with Mike Pence, where she grilled the vice president on Trump’s call with Ukraine — the subject of the ongoing impeachment process — and a interview in which she prompted former Defense Secretary James Mattis to seemingly apologize for criticizing Joe Biden in his book. With only about two years in her current role as host of Face the Nation, Brennan has more than proven herself as one of the most astute interviewers in Washington media – and a power player for years to come.
53. Maria Bartiromo
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Fox’s Maria Bartiromo has long been a prominent name in business news, but in recent years she has emerged as an influential player in the political news media writ large. The financial host, once with CNBC, has become a famous face, and famous interviewer of President Trump. She anchors Mornings with Maria each weekday on Fox Business, and her Sunday Morning Futures show features high profile interviews that compete with the major shows for viewers and, importantly, buzz. This has been particularly so in 2019, with many prominent members of the GOP like Rep. Devin Nunes and Sen. Lindsey Graham arguing the case on historic issues like Russia and impeachment to Bartiromo, and through her, to the Fox audience. Not to mention that audience of one, her fan at the White House, who has dropped her name at rallies as someone to be watched and trusted. That’s influential.
52. Rebecca Ballhaus
At age 28, this Wall Street Journal reporter is already a Pulitzer Prize winner. Ballhaus — along with several of her Journal colleagues — earned the prestigious honor in April for their reporting on the Stormy Daniels hush money payouts, one of the biggest bombshells of the Trump era. But Ballhaus did not just rest on her laurels. Just weeks later in May, Ballhaus teamed with colleague Gordon Lubold to uncover the shocking lengths to which the White House went to hide the USS John McCain out of President Trump’s sight during a trip to Japan. Throughout the impeachment saga, Ballhaus has produced illuminating, scoop-heavy reporting — making her a worthy competitor to the titans on the competitive White House beat for the New York Times and the Washington Post. Rebecca Ballhaus is one of the youngest people on our list — and her inclusion is much deserved.
51. Lou Dobbs
Rivals may mock him, but the influence wielded by the Fox Business host is inarguable. The headline of an April feature in the Washington Post sums it up: “Hard-line views made Lou Dobbs a Fox powerhouse. Now he’s shaping Trump’s border policy.” That story chronicled how multiple initiatives pushed by Dobbs in 2019 were ultimately adopted by the president. The Post even referred to Dobbs as Trump’s “unofficial policy whisperer” while recounting a meeting between Trump and his economic team on which Dobbs was conferenced in by phone. The president also regularly phoned Lou for chats on policy, regularly shouted out Dobbs at rallies, and Dobbs has recounted with gusto his visits to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue — or, as he calls it, the “winner center.” Frankly, the argument should not be whether Lou Dobbs merits inclusion on this list, but whether he’s been placed too far down.
50. Kaitlan Collins
When many think of the CNN White House beat, they now think of the 27-year-old Kaitlan Collins. Her constant presence on the network’s airwaves and routinely tough questioning of President Trump has placed her on his enemies list; she was even banned from a presser last year for asking him about Vladimir Putin. In early January, Collins got into another testy exchange with the president, as she pressed him on his campaign promise that Mexico will pay for his border wall, but after Trump brushed off her “beautifully asked” question with a condescending retort, the CNN reporter didn’t let up and shouted back, “You didn’t answer it!” When Collins is not questioning the president to his face, her other work includes reporting on behind-the-scenes moments, from his private “fuming” against Justin Trudeau to his “furious” reaction toward Mike Pence aid Marc Short for casting blame onto him when the vice president got into hot water for staying at a Trump property in Ireland.
49. Lawrence O’Donnell
Lawrence O’Donnell’s 2019 cemented his spot among the biggest standouts in the cable news firmament. O’Donnell, who maintains an unofficial ban on Trump surrogates appearing on his show, started the year with a bang, topping the 10 p.m. ratings for several weeks straight. Even after his Fox News rival overtook him, O’Donnell still pulled in impressive ratings that ranked him as the second most-watched show on MSNBC and in the top 10 overall on cable news. His high point of the year occurred in June, when he scored a bombshell, exclusive interview with E. Jean Carroll, a former advice columnist who accused Trump of sexual assault. O’Donnell, who is also whip smart, likely would have been higher on the list but for an incident where he reported — and then, within 24 hours, retracted — a story that Russians had co-signed a massive loan for Trump from Deutsche Bank.
48. Jodi Kantor and Meghan Twohey
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She Said, a meticulous and riveting accounting of how New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey broke one of the biggest stories of the decade — the sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein — might be 2019’s best book on journalism. It’s such a thorough and powerful chaperone for the craft that digital media editors assign the book as a guidebook to their reporters. It’s impossible to quantify just how influential the work of these two veteran journalists has been across industries, but read She Said and try not to let your jaw-drop at just how impressive a feat of reporting their Weinstein investigation was — and how much it changed. After recounting their quest to nail down the story, Kantor and Twohey dive into the “seismic social change” that was sparked by reporting of the Me Too movement, much of which emanated from the Times newsroom. She Said is a vital work, and an eminently influential one.
47. Mark Levin
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Mark Levin hates Mediaite. The now pro-Trump radio stalwart and Fox News host has called this website a “useless, pointless, left-wing kook site,” “poisonous,” “sick,” and a “cancer” — all this year in a series of tweets often weeks apart. It’s unclear why our humble site is the object of such torment for Levin, but we don’t hold grudges and are not in the business of denying his influence based on such vitriol. Levin has conservative juice, in no small part thanks to his millions of loyal followers. From the radio to his Fox News show to frequent and loud appearances on the network’s other programs, Levin is a pervasive presence in media. His book Unfreedom of the Press may not have earned rave reviews, but it maintained a mighty streak on top of the New York Times bestseller list, moving hundreds of thousands of copies and earning consistent promotion from President Trump himself.
46. Cecilia Vega and Jonathan Karl
Though Cecilia Vega and Jonathan Karl, the ABC News team covering Trump, avoid intentionally getting into personal beefs with the president, their intrepid, insider-y reporting routinely makes news — and earns the ire of the Oval Office. Vega was very publicly insulted this past year — or just mocked? — when she dared ask the president a question that he didn’t want to answer about controversial Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Likewise, Karl, who continues to pair his daily correspondent duties with that of occasional host of This Week, was blasted by an annoyed Trump as a “lightweight reporter” in 2019. Karl was also the one who asked the right follow up questions of Mick Mulvaney to get him to concede that there was a quid pro quo with the aid to Ukraine. But Karl’s scoops aren’t about pushing a partisan agenda — notably he was reporting months before the Mueller report came out that it was “certain to be anti-climactic.”
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