Not since Watergate has the media been more relevant — or more reviled by the leader of the free world. And it’s all been good for business: CNN raked in $2.5 billion in revenue in 2018 (the most ever for the network) and Fox News is projected to notch $3 billion in operating revenue by 2020. Meanwhile, The New York Times added more than 265,000 digital subscriptions at the end of 2018 for a total of 3.4 million, its biggest gain since the months immediately after the 2016 election, while The Wall Street Journal’s subs are up double digits year-over-year to 1.7 million.
You’ll find those networks’ chiefs (and their biggest stars) on THR’s ninth annual roster of New York media’s top players, along with dozens of newcomers (from The Daily podcaster Michael Barbaro to his bosses’ boss, Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger) — all chosen not just for their ratings, readership and revenue, but also for their influence over the frenzied conversation that drives the news now. With the 2020 presidential race already making hourly headlines, this year’s list puts a sharpened focus on figures with political-coverage clout, from the hosts of The View — a campaign muststop — to pretty much the entire primetime lineup of cable news (though for this NYC-centered list, Fox News stars based in Washington missed the cut).
Speaking truth to power has never been more complicated, or crucial, as these voices prove.
Profiles written by Jeremy Barr, Eriq Gardner, Marisa Guthrie, Natalie Jarvey, Michael O'Connell, Bryn Elise Sandberg and Tatiana Siegel.
