Mixed Signals from Semafor Media

Episode: What Actually Mattered in 2025

Guests: Janice Min (CEO, The Ankler) & Emily Sundberg (Feed Me newsletter)

Date: December 26, 2025
Host(s): Max Tani & Ben Smith

Overview

This special year-end episode of Mixed Signals brings together prominent media voices—Janice Min and Emily Sundberg—to unpack the most consequential stories, trends, and shifts in media throughout 2025. The group reflects on the evolution of the media landscape, platform power, personality-driven news, the blurring of fact and fiction, and looks ahead with predictions for 2026.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Defining Media Stories of 2025

The Impact of the Charlie Kirk Assassination and the Right-wing Media Fracture

• Janice Min: The assassination of right-wing personality Charlie Kirk was “a really...full exposure of all the fractures in right-wing media,” emphasizing the influence, complexity, and fragmentation within these ecosystems.

  "To understand the full right wing osphere or whatever we call this and the different voices in it and the influence they have has been incredibly interesting." (03:31)

• The dominance of YouTube as a platform amplified these voices and accelerated shifts within traditional Hollywood and entertainment. Podcasts transitioning into video are also noted as symptomatic of YouTube's primacy.

  "The complete domination of YouTube over every other platform... is driving all the changes at Netflix, Warner Brothers... why Paramount is fighting so hard for Warner Brothers." (03:50)

The “Smallness” and Insularity of Media Bubbles

• Emily Sundberg: Though the Free Press story and TVPN are endlessly discussed within media circles, most outside the industry remain unaware.

  “It just shows how small the New York City bubble is for these conversations and I think like for media at large.” (06:15)

• These inside-baseball discussions mirror niche sports fandom, which only capture the attention of a “very small world,” albeit a highly influential one.

2. Platform Shifts: From Newsrooms to Newsletters

Substack’s Growth and Shifting Nature

• Substack’s transition from solo creators to supporting brands, events, and new ad formats.

  “I think more people are trying to create businesses on Substack in a way that's beyond just monetizing subscriptions.” (17:44)

• Native ads launching quietly; pressure for more formal announcements as the platform grows.

The Limits and Struggles of Re-bundling

• Debate over whether a true Substack "bundle" of top-tier writers will ever emerge, with skepticism about A-listers joining forces given individual success and self-sufficiency:

  “If somebody does that, it's going to be B list talent...The A list people know that they can do it on their own.” (19:06)

• Subscription fatigue is real, prompting speculation that bundling (whether formal or informal) may arrive out of necessity as consumer budgets are squeezed.

3. The Decline of Mainstream News & Media “Decomposition”

The Attack on Objective Reality

• Ben Smith: Increasing fragmentation leads to confusion about what’s real, as both AI-generated content and questionable sources circulate.

  “You go to ChatGPT, you get a result...three of the four books will be real books and one will be made up. And similarly...three of the four documents he's tweeting are real and one is fake.” (10:41)

• Emily Sundberg: Encountering deepfakes and AI-generated content even in innocuous contexts (“AI animal stuff”) adds to bewilderment and skepticism.

  “And then I looked at the account and it's just all AI animal stuff...and it makes you feel really nuts.” (12:20)

• The audience’s “lower resolution claim on reality” is increasingly normalized.

The Shrinking Mainstream Audience

• Janice Min and Emily Sundberg: "CBS Evening News" and similar legacy products have lost cultural centrality; influence and attention are siphoned off by personalities and platforms, not institutions:

  “CBS News is...not a thing. It ceased being a thing a long time ago. And Barry Weiss is an even smaller thing.” (07:21)

4. Media’s Narcissism and What “Matters”

• Introspection about why insular media discussions happen and who the audience is:

  “If you're working in a burning building, you will pay to read anything about what's happening around you. ...It’s a narcissism or the navel gazing of people in media.” (23:24)

• Figures like Candace Owens become outsized—drawing huge audiences, spinning outlandish narratives—sometimes as performance art:

  “I love how banana she is. She's amazing.... She's doing, like, alien conspiracy theories. I mean, just all this stuff is totally nuts.” (24:15, Max Tani)

• Political coverage has shifted; for some, politics is now a branch of media coverage.

5. Predictions for 2026

Janice Min

• Hollywood Mega-merger Drama: Predicts the “Netflix–Warner Bros–Paramount love triangle” will dominate headlines, with Netflix likely to win out, partly due to Donald Trump’s preferences and the nature of the platforms involved.

  “I think it's going to be Netflix. ...Trump will love the fact that Netflix is the biggest streaming service in the world. ...I think that the other factor here...Netflix doesn't do news. And Trump cares about the news.” (27:16, 28:13)

Emily Sundberg

• “Year of the Party Reporter”: Anticipates a rise in on-the-ground cultural reporting—media alumni starting boutique, local, or vertical-focused projects.

  “I think that we're going to see more media alumni doing, like, new media projects...in other categories like sports and fashion and style...people now know the blueprint for, like, this is how we start a new media company.” (29:18)

• Further migration of podcasts into video, with many attempts at live video likely to fail due to its difficulty.

Memorable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• "To understand the full right wing osphere...the influence they have has been incredibly interesting." – Janice Min (03:31)
• "It just shows how small the New York City bubble is for these conversations and...for media at large." – Emily Sundberg (06:15)
• "CBS News is...not a thing. It ceased being a thing a long time ago... Barry Weiss is an even smaller thing." – Janice Min (07:21)
• "You go to ChatGPT...three of the four books will be real books and one will be made up. ...We may never get to the bottom of it. We're sort of willing to live with...a lower resolution claim on reality at the moment." – Ben Smith (10:41)
• "I looked at the account and it's just all AI animal stuff...and it makes you feel really nuts." – Emily Sundberg (12:20)
• "If somebody does that, it's going to be B list talent...The A list people know that they can do it on their own." – Emily Sundberg (19:06)
• "If you're working in a burning building, you will pay to read anything about what's happening around you. ...It’s a narcissism or the navel gazing of people in media." – Janice Min (23:24)
• "I love how banana she is. ...She's doing, like, alien conspiracy theories. ...All this stuff is totally nuts." – Max Tani (24:15)
• "I think it's going to be Netflix. ...Trump will love the fact that Netflix is the biggest streaming service in the world. ...I think that the other factor here...Netflix doesn't do news. And Trump cares about the news." – Janice Min (27:16, 28:13)
• "We're going to see more media alumni doing new media projects...people now know the blueprint for...how we start a new media company." – Emily Sundberg (29:18)

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment / Topic | |------------|-------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:44 | Guests introduced & year-in-review setup | | 03:31 | Janice Min: Key story—Charlie Kirk & right-wing fractures | | 05:02 | Emily Sundberg: Insularity of media bubbles | | 10:07 | Ben Smith: Decline of shared reality & news decomposition | | 11:54 | Emily: Encountering AI-created confusion online | | 17:26 | Substack’s transformation and monetization strategies | | 19:04 | Speculation on rebundling and subscription fatigue | | 23:07 | Media navel-gazing, coverage of Candace Owens, etc | | 27:02 | Janice’s 2026 merger predictions | | 29:18 | Emily’s 2026 predictions—party reporters and new models | | 30:38 | Platform choices—Substack vs. Beehive |

Takeaways

• 2025 was a year of fragmentation: Both in media platforms (YouTube’s dominance; Substack’s rise) and in public trust (AI-generated confusion, decline of mass-audience news).
• Personality-driven media replaced institutional brands: From Candace Owens to Bari Weiss, individuals—rather than outlets—command outsized influence.
• Reality and Performance Blur: Audiences, knowingly or not, are complicit in blending fact, fiction, and spectacle—whether in politics or pop culture.
• The future will be smaller, more entrepreneurial: Expect “boutique” media brands, hybrid newsletter-projects, and continued friction over sustainable subscription models.
• **2026 will see continued drama in Hollywood mergers and new forms of highly-focused, personality- or community-driven journalism projects.

By the end, the episode delivered a sharp, funny, and insightful snapshot of a media industry in flux—blending introspection with skepticism about both old and new paradigms.