With a presidential election on the horizon and major questions facing thefuture of thenews business, 2024 is likely to be a pivotal year for some of the country’s most prominent media personalities and executives.
Here are five figures across the media to watch in 2024.
Elon Musk
Musk spent much of 2023 as the center of major controversiesand has shown no sign of moving away from the spotlight in the comingyear.
The billionairetech mogulis likely to drive news cycles for months to come overhis handling of X, formerly known as Twitter,andnear-constant commentary on political and cultural issues.
Musk notably will face a major crisis of his own making at Xheading into 2024with one recent analysis estimating a widespread advertiser boycott over Musk’s conduct could cost the company more than $75millionin lost revenue.
Musk himself acknowledged 2024 could be a difficult year for X because ofthe boycotts, going so far in a recent interview to say itcould “kill the company.”
Abusinessmanturnedpart-timeonline influencerwho oftenspends timeboosting conservative pundits and content creators on his newest tech toy, Musk’s political rhetoric and business decisions in 2024 will have meaningfulconsequences for both the companies he owns and the broader news-consuming public.
Mark Thompson
Thompson,who took over this yearfor embattled CNNchief Chris Licht, will have his work cut out for him in 2024.
Licht spent just more than a year on the job andoversaw the network during a time of near-constant internal strife, public criticisms overthe channel’stone and programming and sluggish ratings.
Thompsonwill be aiming tohave a less rocky2024as CNN ramps up its coverage of next fall’s presidential election.
The network still faces major scrutiny over its coverage of former President Trump and conservatives, is likely to suffer further pain from increased cord-cutting andbroadcasts multiple shows that rate among the lowest on any of the three major cable news networks.
Staffers haveso far spoken positively ofThompson, whose arrival signals a new era at CNNthat comes on the heels of a chaotic 2023 many at the network are happy to see come to an end.
Suzanne Scott
Fox News Media’sCEO was at the helm of the network during itscoverage of the 2020 election, portions of which resulted in amassive$787 million payment to Dominion Voting Systemsto settle claims of defamation out of courtmore than two years later.
It was an embarrassing ordeal for Fox, which in 2024willbe looking to rebuild its reputation among mainstream media outlets whilealsoretainingits status as the go-to channel for conservative commentary and opinions.
There are signsFoxis making an effortto move on from the Dominion saga, with Scott revamping the network’s prime-time lineupand notching three big ratings wins late in 2023 withtwo widely watched prime time GOP debates anda similar event featuring Govs. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) and Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.).
Scott, as ever,will be under pressurein the coming yearto deliver continued ratings dominancefor the cable news leaderwithoutbending totally to the partisan leanings of Fox’s largely conservativeaudience. Fox has been the top-rated cable channel for eight years and been the top-rated cable news outlet for more than two decades.A recent New York Times/Siena poll found 13 percent of viewers listed Fox as the news source they turned to most often compared to 10 percent who listed CNN and three percent who chose MSNBC.
Complicating matters for Scott will bethe likelyintensifyingcriticisms coming from Trump, whom Fox helped propel to the White House in 2016 but has more recently been on the receiving end of some of his sharpest complaints about the media.
Bob Iger
The coming year is likely to be chock-full ofmajor testsfor Disney’s chief executive.
Observers in the news mediaspecifically will be watching what Iger ultimately decidesto do withitslinear television arms, including ABC and ESPN, which he suggested this summer might not be part of the company’s “corebusiness.”
After adding areported 7 million subscribersto its paid streaming servicein 2023, how much further Iger pushes Disney into a streaming future will be among the biggest storylines surrounding the company in 2024.
More broadly,Igeris likely to face tough questions from shareholders about Disney’s overall business strategyin an increasingly fragmented and unpredictable media environment.
Tucker Carlson
The former top-rated host on cable news, Carlsonappears to bemounting an effort to stay relevantamong political commentatorsheading into 2024 but without one key ingredient: the large megaphone he held at Fox.
After being ousted by the networkin April,Carlson starteda new media company of his own but has essentiallylostthenationalGOPkingmaker status he enjoyed via his prime-time cable news perch.
Carlsonhas, however, been able tobook interviews with and publish conversations online with some of the most popular figures on the right, including Trump.
How well Carlson can monetize his content and build his brand via his new venture is an open question.
But as Fox looks to rebuild its image amid the fallout of the Dominion lawsuit, and Carlson works to build a new following of his own, the brooding tensions between the two sides will bea dynamic to watch within conservative media in 2024.
Updated: 12:49 p.m.
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