State of the Media
Podcast network collapses, publicists as main characters, and other trends of the first half of 2025.
It’s been a hectic 2025 for the media (so hectic that I haven’t written a newsletter in several months!). Over the past few months, I’ve traveled to Washington, DC, New York, Los Angeles, London, and Nashville for various media meetings, parties, and pitches. What I’ve found is an ecosystem vastly different from last year.
There are new trends (which have yet to hit the discourse) and also new risks. First off…
Publicists Are Now Characters in the Plot–Myself (Reluctantly) Included
Readers latched onto the Blake Lively/Justin Baldoni lawsuit and now want to know how the PR sausage gets made. Journalists are now treating behind-the-scenes flacks as characters. Myself included.
I hate attention (I work in the shadows for a reason), but as I tell clients, you must play the card media deals you. Reporters were digging into my business, so I played the game with the journalists. You can read the results in the Vanity Fair profile of BCC Communications.
An excerpt from the piece:
Mitchell Jackson arrived at The Odeon 10 minutes early for our photo shoot, getting out of his Uber with headphones on for a phone call. With a large coffee in hand and an L.L.Bean tote embroidered with “Cancelled” over his shoulder, the PR strategist and crisis consultant took a lap around the block, finishing his phone call privately, before meeting in front of the Tribeca restaurant promptly at 10 a.m. “I hate this,” he says of the attention, before politely introducing himself to the photographer, whom he towered over in black Doc Martens boots.
Being in front of the camera, and the subject of a story, is uncomfortable for Jackson. A self-described “interloper,” the 33-year-old PR pro is accustomed to working behind the scenes on behalf of high-profile (and frequently shit-stirring) clients, such Candace Owens, Brett Cooper, Adam Friedland, Caroline Calloway, and Adam22. “I gravitate toward clientele that have something to say because otherwise I’d be bored,” Jackson tells me, adding, “The idea of working with Pod Save America makes me want to gouge my eyes out.”
Jackson occupies a unique space in today’s combustible internet news cycle, where reams of outrage can cut short a budding media career—or propel one to new heights. A once-canceled journalist for consorting with conspiracy theorists, with a voting record that includes backing Ron DeSantis and Joe Biden, Jackson is thriving in the chaos that comes with repping conservative podcasters and contrarian comedians, while also managing various A-list crises. Though he generally sticks to the shadows, a recent New York Times profile of Cooper, the conservative YouTube star and freshly minted Fox News contributor, noted how her “publicist” had “enticed a whole row of reporters” to watch her perform at a New York comedy club earlier this year.
I was one of them, and in dealing with Jackson regarding various personalities, I’ve become accustomed to his frenetic fashion, usually rushing from one meeting to another, almost always on the phone. We were at a Broadway show once and he left his seat multiple times during the performance to field calls. Sitting down for lunch at Odeon, he was just as efficient, immediately ordering a water, an Earl Grey tea, and a cappuccino at the waitress’s first appearance.
You can read Natalie Korach’s full story here.
Changes in Crisis PR
Crisis PR has evolved in other ways. Five years ago, you dealt with old media and podcasters, but now TikTokers and Substackers carry just as much weight as the loud voices and old-school reporters. While Lively won the traditional media game, Baldoni pummelled her on TikTok. Given that the people (i.e., the women who buy Lively’s products) live on TikTok, Baldoni’s P.O.V. has murdered what remained of Lively’s image. TikTok slayed the cover girl.
I wasn’t surprised. I’ve treated TikTokers like journalists for some time. I wine and dine them, just as I do reporters; albeit, I know TikTokers don’t do “off the record.” What I say can and will be used as fodder for a short video.
But other crisis comms experts are also winning and dining them. There’s competition to entertain the TikTok gossipers!
The Collapse of Podcast Networks
Not all new media is thriving. Over the past few months, major podcast networks have shown the same problems as the new media giants of a decade ago.
I understand why. People listen to podcasts for their personalities. Nobody cares if a podcaster is signed to so-and-so’s network. It’s different from cable TV, yet these networks keep trying to rebuild cable, just as BuzzFeed News and Vice failed to do. Cable is not happening again. Accept it.
Where podcast networks do help is that they can launch a career. Their value is for nobodies trying to make a name for themselves. You don't need a network if you’re already an established player. You can make more and own all your content, operating as your own small business.
The Floundering Anti-Woke Centrists
The same problems are emerging for the anti-woke brigade. A particular segment of the media expanded during 2020 because it could oppose all the woke nonsense. The problem: woke died. So these people no longer have anything to talk about. They’re Cartman in the most recent episode of South Park. They need woke to thrive, but woke is dead, so they serve no purpose. Unlike South Park, their audience is vanishing.
Rupert Murdoch Remains the Smartest Media Baron
The media has changed, but one thing remains the same: Rupert Murdoch is the smartest media baron in the world. For one, he was the only person who understood that you can stand up to Trump, while still catering to his base. Secondly, he’s rolled up new media in the most innovative way. As Ben Smith reported in Semafor, last night:
As it turns out, Fox’s small size carried two advantages: It has allowed it to dive decisively into new media while CNN owner Warner Bros. Discovery and NBC owner Comcast muddle through corporate spinoffs and keep their powder dry. (One of the current puzzles of the media business, for instance, is why MSNBC continues to produce expensive shows of its own rather than moving to syndicate preexisting hits like Pod Save America and The Bulwark’s programming.) Tubi and a planned Fox One are rational entries in streaming. The company’s stock has outperformed big media rivals over the last five years.
And in a politicized US business environment, staying small has offered Fox and its sister company, News Corp., some protection from Trump’s apparent use of the regulatory apparatus to pressure media owners to soften their lines. Companies like Paramount, and billionaires like Jeff Bezos, may fear interference in everything from mergers to drug regulation to space flight. Fox News continues to nervously guard its right flank in its programming. But the Murdoch family have, perhaps improbably, turned out to be the media owners most willing to challenge the president, most notably in the pages of The Wall Street Journal; the Murdochs are also on track for a courthouse showdown with the White House.
I’d bet against many in the media, but I’d never bet against Murdoch.