Mediaite’s Most Influential in News Media 2023 – Part 8

5. Matt Drudge

When you see the large siren blaring at the top of the Drudge Report, even after more than two decades of them, you still know something big is going down. Whether Matt Drudge is linking to the latest bombshell news or reporting some of his own, the independent news titan remains one of the most influential people in news media.

Given his low profile, Drudge’s network of sources — particularly in conservative media — is still remarkably vast. In the throes of the Dominion case, for example, Drudge reported that Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott’s job was safe. And that proved to be accurate. Why do high-level sources spill to Drudge? Because he brings eyeballs, and the right ones too. The Drudge Report, thanks to its proprietor’s knack for great story selection, gets more traffic than NBC News and other major legacy brands — boasting more than 7 billion visits in 2023. But it’s also a must read in the same newsrooms whose traffic he sends into orbit with the gift of a well-placed link.

Drudge did not shy away from picking winners and losers in 2023, and Trump was no exception. The Drudge Report dubbed the former president “Psycho Don” for his attacks against the Manhattan district attorney prosecuting him. Trump can call Drudge “totally irrelevant,” because he won’t bend the knee and indulge his whims, but everyone knows that couldn’t be further from the truth. The reality is that Trump is complaining because he knows just as much as everyone that Drudge, particularly in an election year, commands great power. Look for Drudge to make his mark on the 2024 campaign stretch in a big way.

4. Megyn Kelly

Megyn Kelly has shown what it means to have serious influence without a major network behind you. After a very public exit at NBC following an auspicious and highly-rated run at Fox News, Kelly has swung back to the right and hit pay dirt. On Apple Podcasts, Kelly’s SiriusXM radio show is regularly ranked in the top ten in the news category, her social media pages have millions of followers and her YouTube boasts 1.6 million highly-engaged subscribers. That translates into big bucks and influence, evidenced by the fact that she was drafted to participate in the Republican presidential debate on NewsNation. Few former cable news hosts have maintained that level of mainstream clout after going independent.

Kelly isn’t afraid to create controversy or take on the left’s sacred cows (even Taylor Swift), and is regularly quoted in major media, favorably or unfavorably. Years after Trump made headlines for a crude remark about Kelly and blood, the star commentator again drew his ire after securing an interview and accusing him of having made Dr. Anthony Fauci “a star.” Trump once created a rift between Kelly and her audience; this time she seems in no danger of losing their pulse. The jury is still out on whether Tucker Carlson, who’s just starting to get his own venture off the ground, can thrive in the world of independent media. He ought to be looking closely at the audience and attention commanded by Megyn Kelly — who has already shown how being your own boss is done.

3. Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Willie Geist

All cable news networks are battling against the inexorable decline of linear television. MSNBC is no exception, and it has regularly tinkered with its lineup in a bid to reverse the trend. The one unmitigated success? Morning Joe, which expanded to four hours of weekday programming in 2022. The show, helmed by Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski with Willie Geist playing a key role, has for 17 seasons been the far and away favorite for liberal viewers and inside the Beltway folks who want a dollop of political chat with their cereal. It’s no surprise that Morning Joe is the most-watched morning cable news show in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C.

Scarborough is very much the leading man, every morning summarizing the political zeitgeist with insight and animation. Mika Brzezinksi offers a strong progressive voice and keeps the show moving, while Willie Geist has the distinction of being perhaps the most likable guy in all of cable news. The show also boasts one of the best guest-lists of any program. For politicos, being a guest on Morning Joe is the holy grail.

The model works so well that MSNBC seems to be remaking the network in Scarborough’s image: take a moderate Republican with a fond memory of the days before Trump descended the gold escalator, surround them with top-notch political reporters and some progressive opinion pundits, et voila. It’s the same formula that gave Nicolle Wallace two hours in the afternoons, to ratings success. In 2023, Morning Joe expanded onto NBC’s streaming platform Peacock, ensuring that Joe, Mika and Willie will remain fixtures of morning news long after the world has decamped from the cable box to streaming.

2. Sean Hannity

If Fox News hosts were competing on the show Survivor, there would be one undisputed winner. Sean Hannity, the Fox News veteran and host of Hannity at 9 p.m. rang in 2023 as king of the network, as he continues to draw ratings that are the envy of every cable news rival. Hannity’s ascent came in no small part thanks to the fall of Tucker Carlson, who was ousted in April in a shocking twist of fate.

But Hannity’s success is thanks to more than that. The prime time host managed to insert himself into major policy and even legislative debates this year, cementing himself as a, if not the, key player in American conservative politics. Hannity, who is unapologetic about his conservative perspective, did more than just cover the chaos in Congress. His commentary outright dictated the strategy and messaging of the Republican Party. When the speaker fight raged for weeks in Congress, it was Hannity that Republicans in and out of office turned to for guidance. When Mike Johnson was finally named speaker, it was Hannity who rallied the troops and hosted a live show from the Capitol building — with elected officials in attendance.

What’s more, Hannity was responsible for some of the most surprisingly compelling hours on cable news all year. His sit down with California Governor Gavin Newsom was heralded as a fascinating debate between ideological foes who put their own views – and the preconceived notions of their own audiences – to the test. Months later, Hannity capably moderated a debate between Newsom and Florida governor and 2024 presidential candidate Ron DeSantis that made for great television — and a major audience of 5.5 million viewers. His steadfast criticism of President Biden and unwavering support for former President Donald Trump has positioned him well to be a crucial voice for Trump leading into 2024. Pair Hannity’s prime time Fox News show with the mighty success of his radio program – totaling three hours a day, five days a week on air – and it’s clear there are few people in American media whose words reach as many people as Sean Hannity.

1. Dominion Voting Systems

2023 was a year of chaos for the news industry; it may be remembered far more by the tribulations faced by major players than their victories. Of all those, one towered over the others: Dominion Voting Systems and its defamation suit against Fox News. In the end, a voting technology company slayed and humbled an American media titan.

The case was years in the making. In 2020, as part of an attempt to assuage viewers after Donald Trump’s loss, Fox News embraced conspiracy theories about the election. One of those theories, which was covered relentlessly on air, involved Dominion, a company co-founded by CEO John Poulos and funded by private equity firm State Street Capital. Dominion sued over the barrage of false claims suggesting it had switched votes from Biden to Trump – and then refused to settle. In an extraordinary turn of events, the case careened towards a trial. Top figures at Fox News, from hosts to executives and even the Murdochs, sat for lengthy depositions with Dominion’s lawyers. A vast trove of Fox’s internal communications was turned over. The public exposure of that discovery dropped like a bomb. In February, Dominion put the highlights in a legal filing: it was an endless aggregation of texts, emails, and testimony from the biggest stars and top executives at Fox News privately admitting they did not believe Trump’s false claim the election was stolen.

And yet, the network promoted them anyway. The juxtaposition of those texts and the comments made on air by top Fox hosts back in 2020 made for damning reading. At this point, Dominion had already done significant damage to mighty Fox News. Still, somehow the case accelerated towards a trial with no sign of a settlement in sight. Brutal revelations from within Fox News continued to leak out into public view as the trial approached. On a cloudy April day, enough reporters, lawyers, and Fox News executives to fill a sizable village descended on Wilmington, Delaware for the media trial of the century. Private jets prepared to shuttle Fox’s top stars and the Murdochs from their homes to Wilmington for their testimonies before open court within days of the start of the trial. A jury was selected.

Then, another shocker: on the first day of the trial, right before opening statements, Judge Eric Davis announced the two sides had resolved their dispute. Gasps filled the courtroom. In a jubilant press conference hastily arranged outside the courthouse, Dominion announced the price of Fox’s failure: $787.5 million, the largest known media defamation settlement ever in the United States.

The fallout from the settlement was substantial. Fox faced serious questions about its claim to be a true news operation. It pushed out its top lawyer, who was seen as responsible for failing to secure a settlement earlier. The biggest aftershock was the abrupt ouster of Tucker Carlson, the biggest star in cable news, just days after the settlement. Naturally, speculation abounded that Carlson was Dominion’s scalp on top of the massive payout. For a variety of reasons, that theory makes little sense, but there is little doubt that l’affaire Dominion played some role in the decision to dump Carlson when Fox did. The network changed its ways, though very subtly. Sharp-eyed observers may have also noticed repeated instances of Fox’s on-air personalities interjecting to drop a fact check when a guest or commentator dances a little too close to the line of the comments that already cost Fox so dearly, however awkward that might be in the live televised moment. Yet some of the more egregious purveyors of the stolen election lie, like Maria Bartiromo, remain in place.

Fox, thanks to its extraordinarily deep pockets and massive audience, weathered the Dominion storm. But the biggest network in cable news took its biggest hit in 27 years on the air this year. And it’s not out of the woods yet: Smartmatic, another voting tech company subjected to similar 2020 election conspiracy theories, has its own $2.7 billion lawsuit against Fox. Rupert Murdoch, now 92, was deposed in that case in November. The company is certainly studying the Dominion victory for a guide of how to beat cable news’s Goliath. When it comes to influence, nothing had a bigger impact on the news industry in 2023 than Dominion.

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