2025 lookback: Mainstream journalists opt for independent route

The media panorama is as fragmented and diversified because it has ever been, with the rise of recent media within the type of podcasts, Substacks and different unbiased journalism platforms providing customers an enormous vary of choices for information and evaluation.

A number of distinguished journalists, who had been greatest referred to as faces of their respective networks, selected the unbiased route in 2025, however not all by alternative. In every case, those that have performed so have been much more outspoken than earlier than, suggesting that the shackles of their former employers now not stood in the best way of their true opinions.

Listed below are 5 figures who’ve disappeared from mainstream media previously yr.

CNN EMPLOYEES IN SHOCK OVER JIM ACOSTA’S SUDDEN DEPARTURE FROM THE NETWORK

Jim Acosta

Identified for being melodramatic reporting style As a White Home correspondent after which information anchor at CNN, Acosta introduced in January that he was leaving the community after he was provided a midnight time slot as a substitute of a daytime time slot.

The left-wing host, who injected editorial commentary into his reporting on President Donald Trump and others, began “The Jim Acosta Present” on Substack, the place he hosts a liberal podcast and likewise blogs and reviews.

In some of the weird moments of the yr in journalism, Acosta “interviewed” the artificially animated avatar of deceased teenager Joaquin Oliver, who was killed within the Parkland bloodbath, in August to advertise a message about gun management.

Though the teenager’s father permitted of the stunt, the interview received a lot of criticism in regards to the ethics of primarily placing phrases within the mouth of a useless individual and underscored Acosta’s hyper-partisan method.

Pleasure Reid

JOY REID SAYS MSNBC FIRED HER WITHOUT WARNING, SPECULATES HER COVERAGE OF TRUMP, GAZA LEADS TO REMOVAL

The longtime anchor for MSNBC — now referred to as MS NOW — was abruptly fired in February for internet hosting “The ReidOut.” Reid has speculated that this was due to her outspoken stance on the Gaza struggle and Trump, however mentioned she was by no means given an actual motive for the impeachment.

Reid began “The Pleasure Reid Present” in June, the place she has introduced her far-left commentary and interviews to greater than 382,000 subscribers on YouTube.

Her highlights this yr, together with quite a few interviews on different reveals, embrace sharing a video suggesting that the music “Jingle Bells” is racist, mocking Erika Kirk’s clothes within the wake of her husband Charlie’s homicide and suggesting that Trump won’t even have been shot final yr.

Terry Moran

The longtime ABC correspondent parted methods with the community in June after being suspended for his social media tirade towards Trump and coverage adviser Stephen Miller, when he known as every man a “world-class hater.”

Moran, who had interviewed Trump within the Oval Workplace simply weeks earlier, went the Substack route and named his web site “Actual Patriotism.”

EX-ABC NEWS REPORTER ADMITS EMPLOYER IS CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE AGAINST TRUMP FOR LACK OF ‘VIEWPOINT DIVERSITY’

Terry Moran has labored at ABC Information for nearly 28 years. (Paula Lobo/Getty)

He additionally praised the rise of different media that he’s now part of along with his Substack.

“The brand new media is messy, chaotic and generally ill-informed. However it can’t be denied that this new journalism is extra democratic, extra various and fewer captured by company pursuits that declare ‘objectivity’ means silence about actuality. The longer term is right here,” he wrote.

Chuck Todd

Todd left NBC Information in January after 18 years on the community and relaunched his podcast “Chuck ToddCast” in April.

He cited a lack of belief within the nationwide media when he made the transfer.

CHUCK TODD WARNS THAT DEMS WILL FALL INTO TRUMP’S TRAP, ‘AND TAKE THE BAIT’ ON REDISTRIBUTION

Former NBC host Chuck Todd throughout an episode of his podcast in August. (Screenshot/”The Chuck Toddcast”/YouTube)

“The rationale I am prepared to make a transfer is I believe the media has a variety of work to do to regain belief and I truthfully do not assume the nationwide media is the place to do this,” Todd mentioned.

The previous “Meet the Press” moderator does not hesitate to deal with Democrats on his podcast, however a lot of his commentary is resolutely anti-Trump.

Jennifer Rubin

The very long time A Washington Post columnist left the newspaper in January amid anger at proprietor Jeff Bezos, who overturned the newspaper’s endorsement of Kamala Harris for president final yr.

The fiercely anti-Trump author, who was as soon as the paper’s token conservative opinion author however veered sharply left, began “The Contrarian” with Norm Eisen, a “pro-democracy” Substack with “fearless and distinctive reported opinions and cultural commentary with out fake stability, euphemisms or gamified political punditry.”

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“Now we have seen companies and billionaires who personal media retailers abuse the loyalty of their audiences and undermine the vital function of journalism in a free democracy,” Rubin mentioned in an announcement on the time. “Fairly than defending democratic values, they’ve enabled probably the most critical threats to democracy – Donald Trump and its allies – on the very time when a strong and unbiased press is most important. We want another, really unbiased outlet that isn’t afraid of the federal government and unwilling to equivocate or bend the knee.”