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The 2025 Media State of the Union

The inherent tension of the journalist-as-brand model, the continued erosion of institutional authority, the potential for an A.I. newsroom: Industry leaders weighed in on all this and more at a panel this week to unveil the results of our latest Puck–Orchestra survey.

Journalists
You’re also seeing legacy media trying to make stars out of existing people who weren’t talent. The Wall Street Journal just announced a new talent development desk, where the description is training existing reporters on their social media presence on direct-to-camera video. It’s a really intentional effort to build franchises around people," says Orchestra C.E.O. Jonathan Rosen. Photo: Bastien Ohier/Hans Lucas/AFP/Getty Images
Dylan Byers
December 19, 2025

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On Wednesday, over breakfast in the piano room of the Hotel Chelsea, Puck founder Jon Kelly and I joined Jonathan Rosen, the esteemed C.E.O. of the strategic communications and marketing company Orchestra, as well as a few dozen other media swells, to unpack the findings from our latest Puck Private Conversation survey. The data, based on responses from executives, entrepreneurs, and other high-level operators across the industry, provided telling insights into the current state and imminent future of the media business, touching on the rise of talent-led franchises, the strength of recurring-revenue subscription bundles, the impending impact of A.I., and much more.