There was a time, not long ago, when compiling a list of New York’s most prominent media figures was a relatively painless task. The major American media organizations were concentrated within a 20-block radius of midtown Manhattan—home to the major networks and glossy newspapers and magazines that dominated American culture and politics. On a typical day at Michael’s, you might spot Barbara Walters, Gay Tallis, Diane Sawyer, Mort Zuckerman, Carl Bernstein, Liz Smith, and Nora Ephron. Jot down everyone in your eyeline, and your media list will be half done.
Those days are over. Today’s media elites are scattered across platforms that barely existed a decade ago — Substack, YouTube, TikTok — and in this divided ecosystem, influence is hard to define and easy to manufacture. Compiling New York’s power list takes weeks of deep research, anonymous sources, and some tense boardroom discussions. What qualifies it to be a media power in 2026? Who is qualified to be a media personality? What even counts as media?
If you’re looking for a cultural sign of this shift, consider this The devil wears Prada The sequel, arriving just as this issue goes to print. The 2006 film captured the magazine publication at its most charming and self-confident. The new installment appears to be more of a documentary. Meryl Streep is still running Runway Magazine, or what’s left of it after endless budget cuts, fighting shrinking advertising dollars and their greedy tech brethren. Originally, Miranda flew privately. In the sequel, she unhappily flies as an instructor.
As an editor for the past three decades, I’ve been on the front row of the media revolution, though less luxurious than Anna Wintour’s seat. One day, while I was scanning my clothes several years ago, the writer Hanya Yanagihara, my then deputy at radar magazine, quipped evilly: “This devil wears a banana republic.”
Of course, it’s not all bad news. The collectivist elitism of the old guard has given way to a more decentralized and democratic network of information delivery—more intelligent, diverse, and freed from the biases of the old order. A new generation of media stars like Emily Sandberg has risen to the top driven solely by obsession. THRThe New York issue—our first since 2022, when the pandemic shut down both the issue and the annual celebration—reflects the best of both worlds. In Mickey O’Connell’s list of media powerhouses, there are powerful figures like Savannah Guthrie and times Editor Joe Khan shares the stage with newcomers. And Lacey Rose’s cover interview with the soon-to-be Late show Host Stephen Colbert is as sharp as anything Thales has ever tapped on the Selectric. On May 7, we will be in Manhattan for a celebration of this issue at an event at Daniel sponsored by A&E in honor of the 250th anniversary of the nation’s birth and the important influence that the media, including magazines, played in it.
Like vinyl, print may make a big comeback. At least that’s what my chatbot tells me.
This story appeared in the May 6 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
