Declining Reach and Influence: The Troubling Future of Freefalling Media
As 2025 approaches, traditional media finds itself in a downward spiral — its credibility shattered, and audience numbers plummeting.
The damage stems from two primary issues: First, the dominance legacy media once enjoyed is now a thing of the past.
The liberal media strongholds in New York and Washington, DC, no longer dictate the national dialogue.
A few major corporate organizations like ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post no longer control public thought and discussion.
The most popular broadcast today is the Joe Rogan podcast from Austin, Texas, which averages 11 million viewers per episode.
By comparison, CNN struggles to draw more than 400,000 viewers during primetime, which is less than 4% of Rogan’s audience.
In the digital space, Elon Musk’s X has become the leading source of news globally.
Meanwhile, The Washington Post, for instance, reported over a $70 million loss and a 50% decline in its audience in 2023, with expectations of losing more than $75 million in 2024. Several notable reporters have left the paper for more liberal platforms like The Atlantic.
The second issue contributing to this exodus is a significant loss of respect following the egregious breaches of ethics and integrity by legacy media in recent years.
Members of the media have compromised their credibility by blatantly misrepresenting Joe Biden’s cognitive abilities.
They eagerly supported Kamala Harris’ campaign while attempting to downplay her radical stances (and those of her unusual running mate, Tim Walz), absurdly portraying them as mainstream, centrist candidates.
Simultaneously, they vilified Donald Trump and his supporters as fascists and uninformed individuals.
However, these attempts were in vain — as Trump achieved a decisive victory, highlighting the diminishing power of mainstream media and the public’s growing disdain.
According to Gallup, just 27% of independent voters trust the media, and only 12% of Republicans share that view.
Given these circumstances, here are three media trends to watch for in 2025.
Growth of independent journalists: The days when physical newsrooms were essential for quality journalism are gone.
Top investigative reporters such as Matt Taibbi, Michael Shellenberger, Bari Weiss, and Catherine Herridge have been transitioning to subscription-based platforms like Substack or, in Weiss’ case, founding The Free Press, a new online outlet.
Successful contributors in these new formats can earn substantial incomes, potentially reaching the seven-figure range.
Moreover, these writers are no longer constrained by corporate gatekeepers, allowing them to own their content.
Declining salaries and job cuts: The era of lucrative contracts for network and cable news personalities is fading.
We have already witnessed “stars” like Rachel Maddow experience a $5 million reduction in her salary, while industry veterans like Chris Wallace left CNN for his own podcast due to a substantial proposed salary cut.
The reason for this shift? Insufficient ratings to justify such high salaries. With weak demand, advertisers are diverting their budgets elsewhere. The trend of cord-cutting continues to rise, with over 10 million viewers opting out of pay-TV in favor of streaming services.
Overall, declining revenues and shrinking subscriber bases will lead to smaller contracts and likely significant workforce reductions.
Increase in defamation lawsuits: Recently, ABC News settled with Trump after anchor George Stephanopoulos, during a single interview with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), stated — on 10 occasions — that the former president had been “convicted of rape.”
That claim was false, prompting Trump to rightfully respond through a defamation lawsuit.
Fearing what might surface during the trial’s discovery phase and knowing how clear Stephanopoulos’ words would be to a jury, ABC settled, compensating Trump with $15 million and $1 million in legal fees.
Certain media figures on the left expressed outrage, claiming ABC was pressured into settling.
“The news industry should not be concerned about these matters when they are just carrying out their responsibilities,” complained Jim Acosta on CNN.
This reflects the belief that “doing their jobs” permits them to inaccurately report something that never occurred.
As we move into 2025, an increase in such lawsuits is anticipated whenever media entities misrepresent the truth, similar to Stephanopoulos’ statements, or misinterpret the facts, as actor Justin Baldoni claims The New York Times did in a recent $250 million defamation lawsuit.
Legacy media — barring a few exceptions — stand on the verge of one of their most challenging years as Trump returns to the White House.
It’s a precarious situation for an industry that has largely sealed its own fate.
Joe Concha is the author of “Progressively Worse: Why Today’s Democrats Ain’t Your Daddy’s Donkeys.”
