Opinion | A look back at the best and worst of the news media in 2023
Our Media Person of the Year: WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich, who represents those willing to dedicate their lives to shining a light on the truth.
Good morning and welcome to a special edition of The Poynter Report.
Today, I look back at the year in media, including a very special Media Person of the Year.
Please note: this will be the last Poynter Report of 2023. But I will return on Jan. 8 to give you, as always, the latest in media news and analysis each and every weekday. Thanks for reading this year, and I look forward to talking to you again in 2024.
Now to the media stories and personalities of 2023.
Media Person of the Year
On March 29 of this year, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested and detained in Russia. Nearly 270 days later, Gershkovich remains in prison, accused of espionage. But he is not a spy. He’s a journalist, a reporter who was simply doing his job when he became a political pawn.
Throughout history, being a journalist has been a dangerous and, at times, deadly job. And in the year 2023, it remains as dangerous as ever.
The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that 81 journalists and media workers have been killed in 2023. Some 362 were imprisoned last year. Another 65 are missing globally. All those numbers could go up in the final week of the year.
Gershkovich represents the dangers of being a journalist, but also provides inspiration, showing there are those willing to dedicate their lives to shining a light on the truth for the entire world to see.
The United States continues to work for Gershkovich’s release, but in what seems like sham proceedings, Gershkovich continues to be denied his freedom and remains in a Russian prison. No one knows if his time remaining there will be measured in days, months or years.
Until then, the plea remains: “Free Evan.”
To keep his story at the forefront and to join in his fight — as well as to remember and honor all the journalists who have lost their lives or freedom just for doing their jobs — Poynter’s Media Person of the Year is Evan Gershkovich.
Media story of the year
X marks the spot. Actually, X marked the new name for Twitter. Chief twit Elon Musk changed the name of the social media site that he bought for $44 billion in October 2022 and raced to offend users, hemorrhage money, chase away advertisers and pretty much turn what used to be a worthwhile form of communication and information into, far too often, a toxic and dirty cesspool. He welcomed back former President Donald Trump. He amplified antisemitic posts and various conspiracy theories. He told advertisers to go bleep themselves. He may be rich and famous and even influential, but you have to ask: Are his words, actions and still-powerful social media site making the world a better or worse place?
Most underwhelming
While Musk was setting Twitter/X on fire just for the chaos of it, there was hope that Threads could replace X as the go-to social media site for journalists, news and current events. Run by Meta and with the head start of having millions of immediate users, it felt as if Threads had the best chance yet of making Musk and X irrelevant — or at least giving it some good competition. But that hasn’t happened. Threads is still around and maybe it just needs more time. But, for now, it hasn’t come close to replacing X.
Biggest retirement
News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, shown here in 2011. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)
Rupert Murdoch — the 92-year-old media mogul who started Fox News, among many other media companies — retired as chairman of Fox Corp. and News Corp. His career is among the most influential in the history of world media, and that’s not an exaggeration. He ran a big-time movie studio (21st Century Fox), created a fourth TV network in America (Fox), and owned publications all across the world, including The Wall Street Journal and New York Post. But his lasting legacy likely will be Fox News, which tapped into divisive, angry and aggressive political commentary that tossed aside fairness and responsible journalism for one thing: to get as many viewers as possible.
Best student journalism
The headline above — “best student journalism” — is technically accurate, but it really should be noted that this is among the best journalism of the year. Period. The Daily Northwestern — the student newspaper of Northwestern University — and reporters Nicole Markus, Alyce Brown, Cole Reynolds, and Divya Bhardwaj published a disturbing story about the university’s football program: “Former NU football player details hazing allegations after coach suspension.” That and follow-up reporting ultimately led to the ouster of Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald. Meanwhile, Stanford University president Marc Tessier-Lavigne stepped down after an independent review found significant flaws and uncorrected mistakes in studies he supervised going back decades. The resignation came after dogged reporting from Theo Baker of the school’s student paper, The Stanford Daily. The Stanford Daily won a 2022 George Polk Award for its work on this story. It was the first time an independent, student-run newspaper won that highly regarded award. Baker was also honored with a “Special Award.”
Most powerful presentation
In November, The Washington Post took the rare and extreme measure of showing how a mass shooting really looks and sounds. Going further than any mainstream news organization had ever gone before, the Post published disturbing and graphic images in “Terror on Repeat.” It looked back at 11 mass shootings in which the weapon used was an AR-15. And just the names of the places bring back horrific memories: Parkland, Florida and Uvalde, Texas and Newtown, Connecticut, and many others. Post executive editor Sally Buzbee told me at the time, “We know it’s very sensitive material and very disturbing and we know it will be disturbing to people.” That was the whole point. It should be disturbing.
Biggest on-air move
Kristen Welker, right, interviews former President Donald Trump in her debut as the full-time moderator of NBC’s “Meet the Press” in September. (Courtesy: NBC News)
Kristen Welker replaced Chuck Todd as moderator of “Meet the Press,” becoming the first Black person and just the second woman to be the full-time moderator of the longest-running show on American television. Todd had been in the moderator’s chair since 2014 and was a polarizing figure among viewers. However, as I wrote in June, I have always been a big fan of Todd, and to quote what I wrote, “I find his style of hosting to be thorough, fair and effective. He is always prepared, he communicates clearly with his audience, pushes his guests and, despite what his critics might think, does not appear to have any agenda.” Welker has been solid, but I miss Todd on “MTP.”
Best TV show
You didn’t think I was going to let the year pass without another shoutout for HBO’s “Succession,” did you? For those who did not like this show, I must say, “You are not serious people.” (If you know, you know.) The HBO show that may or may not have mirrored the Murdoch family (pssst: it did) ended its triumphant four-season run with an incredibly realistic ending that was fitting of this brilliant series.
Worst TV show
CNN’s town hall with Donald Trump back in May. I initially was in favor of CNN talking to the likely nominee for the Republican Party in next year’s presidential election. But this wasn’t a town hall. It was a Trump rally. Moderator Kaitlan Collins did her best to keep the proceedings from spiraling out of control, but she was no match going up against Trump, who wasn’t going to play by any rules and an audience that sounded like MAGA diehards as opposed to undecided voters. It was an embarrassing chapter that was another black mark on former CNN CEO Chris Licht’s resume.
Speaking of which …
Shortly after the Trump town hall and immediately after Tim Alberta’s devastating profile of him in The Atlantic, Licht left CNN. His tenure there lasted just a year and featured dismal ratings, layoffs, the firing of on-air anchors and reporters, program shifts and what CNN’s Oliver Darcy describedas “rock-bottom employee morale.” In other words, a total disaster. Licht was replaced by former New York Times chief executive Mark Thompson, who already appears to be adding stability to a network that is slowly rebuilding.
And also speaking of which …
CNN might lag in the ratings behind chief competitors Fox News and MSNBC, but there’s no question that when it comes to major breaking news, particularly coverage of war in places such as Ukraine and the Middle East, no network does a more thorough and insightful job than CNN.
Breakout star
MSNBC’s Jen Psaki on the set of her show earlier this month. (Courtesy: MSNBC)
Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki made a smooth transition to television. Her Sunday show on MSNBC, “Inside with Jen Psaki,” is usually good for one or two viral moments a week, especially when she smartly and accurately takes out a politician or political position. Do her views come from the left? Of course. It’s MSNBC and she worked for Joe Biden. But that doesn’t make her commentary and interviews any less relevant or fair.
Another breakout star
Kaitlan Collins has risen fast and steady at CNN, going from a White House reporter to hosting a prime-time news show. It’s well-deserved, too. Collins is cool and calm and sharp on air, asking good questions and, better yet, good follow-up questions.
Wildest media day
April 24, 2023, will go down as one of the most stunning days in media history. First, Fox News, seemingly out of nowhere, fired its most popular host, Tucker Carlson. Why? Well, it wasn’t just one thing, according to journalist Brian Stelter, who published his second book about Fox News in 2023. Regardless of the reason, it was a stunner. But just as we were catching our breath from that news, another firing: Don Lemon was bounced from CNN. That firing was less surprising after Lemon was moved from prime time to mornings, where he proceeded to have run-ins with colleagues over misogynistic comments. That included saying 51-year-old presidential candidate Nikki Haley was past her prime as a woman. So, bam, just like that, two of the biggest names in cable TV were out of jobs.
Good media news
From my colleague Kristen Hare: 2023 was undeniably a tough year for the media, but there were bright spots, and one of them comes with a lot of zeros. September’s announcement of Press Forward, the initiative aimed at putting $500 million in local newsrooms in the next five years, looks promising. Here’s where the first $48 million is going. And here’s a primer on what we know, what we don’t know and what to look out for.
Biggest suit
The so-called Media Trial of the Century didn’t go to trial after all. But, wow, did it make history. Fox News agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems a whopping $787 million. This came after Dominion said the network had guests on air who put forth unproven lies that Dominion’s voting machines flipped the 2020 presidential election from Trump to Biden and that Fox News knew the claims were not true. In addition, Dominion claimed, some Fox News hosts seemingly endorsed the lies and executives allowed it all to happen to placate viewers. We never did get what could have been really juicy testimony from the likes of Fox founder Rupert Murdoch and on-air personalities Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Maria Bartiromo and others. But the settlement proved, in the minds of many, that Fox News purposely pushed a lie that threatened our democracy.
Biggest abuse of power
A stack of the Marion County Record sits in the back of the newspaper’s building, awaiting unbundling, sorting and distribution on Aug. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/John Hanna, File)
In August, police raided the Marion County Record newspaper in Kansas, as well as the home of Eric Meyer — co-owner and publisher of the paper. A day after the raid, the paper’s co-owner and Meyer’s 98-year-old mother, Joan Meyer, collapsed and died in her home. Eric Meyer says he believes the stress of the raid was a contributing factor in her death. Police were supposedly looking to see if the paper had a document containing information about a local restaurateur and whether the restaurateur’s privacy was violated. The paper never did run a story, the warrant was withdrawn and the Kansas Bureau of Investigations is still looking into the matter.
Best digging
ProPublica’s Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski published an explosive story in April: “Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire.” The story reports that for more than 20 years, the Supreme Court justice has been treated to luxury vacations by billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow, and Thomas has not reported these gifts as required by law. One retired federal judge said, “It’s incomprehensible to me that someone would do this.” It was superb work that continues, and it also brings into question the neutrality of a court that was once considered beyond reproach.
Dumbest comments
I have to be honest. I hadn’t thought about “Dilbert” in years. But then the cartoon’s creator and writer made headlines after making racist comments on social media. Citing a poll and using a phrase popular among some white supremacists (“It’s OK to be white), the cartoonist Scott Adams said, among other things, “If nearly half of all Blacks are not OK with white people — according to this poll, not according to me, according to this poll — that’s a hate group. I don’t want to have anything to do with them. And I would say, based on the current way things are going, the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from Black people, just get the (expletive) away … because there is no fixing this.” Hundreds of news outlets immediately dropped Adams’ cartoon, including the USA Today Network, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and the Los Angeles Times. Some fans of Adams’ tried to claim he was a victim of cancel culture. I would suggest it was consequence culture.
Saddest sports news
The New York Times disbanded its sports desk and turned over its sports coverage to The Athletic — a site it bought for $550 million in 2022. It seemed like only a matter of time before the Times ended its traditional sports section, but it’s still hard to believe that it closed down a section that was once home to some of the all-time greats in the business such as Red Smith, George Vecsey and Dave Anderson. While The Athletic does a great job covering sports, there is a void of the type of investigative, projects and off-the-beaten path reports that the Times sports section was best known for.
Best media books
It has been a good year for media books. Brian Stelter’s “Network of Lies: The Epic Saga of Fox News, Donald Trump, and the Battle for American Democracy” and Marty Baron’s “Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos, and The Washington Post” are superb behind-the-scenes accounts that are fascinating to anyone who follows the world of media. I highly recommend both. But my favorite media book of the year is Adam Nagourney’s painstakingly reported book about The New York Times from 1971 to 2001: “The Times: How the Newspaper of Record Survived Scandal, Scorn, and the Transformation of Journalism.”
The biggest unknown
Thanks to ChatGPT and its creator OpenAI, artificial intelligence has been one of the biggest stories in 2023. For newsrooms, it feels like a seminal moment. Already some have done better than others with generative AI. Cheers: to The Associated Press, which has been experimenting with AI and helping local newsrooms experiment themselves; Joe Amditis, an AI expert at Montclair State University, who has created crucial guidesto help newsrooms use AI; the Partnership on AI, a collaborative that has put out a handy guide on AI in the newsroom; and online site Futurism for its coverage of AI use in newsrooms. But jeers: to Sports Illustrated, which was just busted for creating AI “journalists” and articles; Gannett, which paused its AI work after a really awful high school sports story; and others, including G/O Media, which had its share of blunders in trying to use AI.
Biggest lie
For this, I turn it over to my colleagues at Poynter’s PolitiFact, which just today published its 2023 Lie of the Year. And it is … Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign of conspiracy theories. PolitiFact editor-in-chief Katie Sanders and staff writer Madison Czopek write, “Kennedy’s political following is built on a movement that seeks to legitimize conspiracy theories. His claims decrying vaccines have roiled scientists and medical experts and stoked angry feuds over whether his work harms children. He has made suggestions about the cause of COVID-19 that he acknowledges sound racist and antisemitic.”
Look what you made me do
Taylor Swift, shown here at a concert in Buenos Aires, Argentina in November. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)
Look at what Taylor Swift did in 2023. Her blockbuster Eras Tour became one of the biggest concert tours of all time. She actually helped the already huge NFL television ratings and jersey sales just by showing up at her new boyfriend’s games. She was named Time’s Person of the Year. And she became such a big deal that Gannett, the biggest newspaper chain in the country, hired a reporterspecifically to cover her. (Gannett also hired someone to cover Beyonce.) When it comes to media and pop culture, no one was a bigger deal in 2023 than Swift.
Most mentioned
I often link to other reporters’ work in my newsletter and while I didn’t go back and do an official count, I’m pretty sure that the reporter whose work I cited the most was New York Post sports media columnist Andrew Marchand. There are several excellent sports media columnists/reporters out there — Richard Deitsch (The Athletic), Chad Finn (The Boston Globe), John Ourand (Sports Business Journal on his way to Puck), and Ben Strauss (The Washington Post), to name just a few — but no one breaks more stories than Marchand. He’s plugged in, especially when it comes to broadcasters’ comings and goings. Marchand is a must-read if you follow sports.
Biggest sports media personality
Sports broadcaster Pat McAfee, shown here at an NFL game in Indianapolis in August. (AP Photo/Zach Bolinger)
Pat McAfee has somehow gone from NFL punter to one of the most followed sports media personalities in the country. He took a podcast/YouTube show and, in 2021, signed a four-year deal with FanDuel worth $120 million. But then this year he walked away from that to sign with ESPN. That deal is reportedly worth $85 million over five years. His show — which features him in a tank top, standing and pacing in the studio while talking to some of the biggest names in sports — is must-see TV, particularly for young men. But that’s not all. He also works on ESPN’s “College GameDay” and can be seen broadcasting on wrestling’s WWE. It’s hard to think of a more influential on-air sports personality. And he’s pretty much self-made.
Worst admission
Charissa Thompson, a host on NFL coverage at both Fox Sports and Amazon Prime Video, admitted on a podcast that years ago, when she was a sideline reporter at Fox, she would “make up the report” if she was unable to talk to a coach at halftime. Backlash, especially from other sideline reporters, was swift and harsh. Thompson released a short Instagram explanation saying she used the wrong word choice and “… never lied about anything or been unethical during my time as a sports broadcaster.” She didn’t lose either of her broadcasting jobs, but her reputation likely suffered a permanent mark.
Best sports journalism
ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham — two of the best journalists you can find, sports or otherwise — combined on a must-read story: “‘Hewas free and clear’: How the leak of Jon Gruden’s email led to the fall of Commanders owner Dan Snyder.” Here’s what The Big Lead wrote: “It was a masterclass in sourced writing, a wealth of damning details that painted a clear and precise picture of how Snyder was the cause of his own unmaking. The scope and breadth of what Van Natta and Wickersham uncovered wasn’t limited to Snyder, either. Decades of conflict, anger, and resentment had to bubble over for Snyder to finally get forced out. Van Natta and Wickersham wrung every detail they could out of it all.”
Most depressing industry news
It was another grim year for media layoffs. According to a report by employment firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas released in early December, the news industry has seen 2,681 job cuts across broadcast, digital and print. It seemed as if no one was immune. The Washington Post offered buyouts and threatened layoffs to slash more than 200 jobs. The Texas Tribune had its first layoffs in its 15-year history. Vice Media had a bankruptcy, TV cancellations, and layoffs. Condé Nast had cuts. On and on and on it goes. And, unfortunately, it shows no signs of slowing. Look for more cuts across journalism in 2024.
The best and worst of the rest …
- Best TV news show: “60 Minutes.” It remains the gold standard of TV news.
- Best Sunday show: Can I wimp out and say it’s a four-way tie between ABC’s “This Week,” CNN’s “State of the Union,” CBS’s “Face the Nation,” and NBC’s “Meet the Press?” Sorry, that’s the way I’m going. All have superb moderators who ask good questions. All have good guests. Maybe the Sunday shows don’t have the viewership that they once did, but they remain an important part of TV news.
- Best Sunday moderator: CBS “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan is always prepared and will push back on any guest who dares to offer up a misleading or lame response.
- Biggest TV game show news: After four decades, Pat Sajak is leaving as host of “Wheel of Fortune.” Ryan Seacrest, who seemingly has 567 jobs, will add another as the new host.
- Shrewdest sports media move: Dave Portnoy bought Barstool Sports back for a dollar from Penn Entertainment after selling it to Penn for $551 million in early 2021. Portnoy signed some noncompete agreements and will owe Penn 50% of gross proceeds if he ever sells Barstool (which he doesn’t plan to do). In the end, what a deal for Portnoy.
- Coolest journalist: Podcaster and tech journalist Kara Swisher, who isn’t afraid to call out anyone’s baloney, especially the Chief Twit.
- Best media resurrection: Jezebel. After getting shut down by G/O Media, Jezebel was resurrected just a month later under Paste Magazine.
- Most underrated newscast: “PBS NewsHour.”
- Worst job: Being the chief executive of X sounds awful. After all, how would you like to work for Elon Musk? Then again, no one forced Linda Yaccarino to take the job and damage her reputation along the way.
- Best return: ESPN “Pardon the Interruption” co-host Tony Kornheiser going back to the studio for the first time since the pandemic after doing the show from his home for three years.
- Still meaningful: The evening news. Between ABC, CBS and NBC, right around 16 million people still watch every night. Those aren’t the numbers Dan Rather and Peter Jennings used to get. But it still laps any cable news shows.
- Most dangerous: Steve Bannon. The right-wing Trump advocate still pushes dangerous agendas and, sadly, has influence among his followers.
- Still standing award: Fox News’ Sean Hannity, who once again is top dog at his network now that Tucker Carlson is out.
- Most versatile interviewer: Charlamagne tha God. He can interview anyone from pop stars to politicians and he can do it anywhere — on his show “The Breakfast Club” or on “The Daily Show,” where he guest-hosted. And he reaches a younger audience like few can. (And he’s not Joe Rogan.)
- Top war reporters: Anyone covering conflict deserves our respect and admiration. But just to single out a few: Fox News’ Trey Yingst, CNN’s Clarissa Ward and NBC’s Richard Engel. Yingst has been superb in 2023 and is Fox News’ best journalist. By far.
- Best newspapers: The New York Times and The Washington Post remain the absolute best at what they do. Are they perfect? Not always. But they are consistently and reliably outstanding every single day.
- Most determined: Fran Drescher. To be honest, I hadn’t thought of Drescher since “The Nanny” was on TV (or whenever I see her in “Spinal Tap”). But she was back with a bang in 2023, representing actors in the Hollywood strike. The actors and writers strikes are now over, thankfully, but Drescher will now be known for her work as the national president of the Screen Actors Guild. (And, of course, whenever “Spinal Tap” is on.)
