2025 lookback: Quitting or fired liberal journalists opt for the independent route

The media landscape is as fractured and diversified as it's ever been, with the rise of New Media in the form of podcasts, Substacks and other independent journalism platforms giving consumers a huge array of options for news and analysis.

Several prominent journalists who were best-known as the faces of their respective networks went the independent route in 2025, though not all by choice. The ones who did are, in all cases, even more outspoken than before, suggesting the corporate shackles of their former employers were no longer restraining their true opinions.

Here are five figures who decamped from mainstream media this past year.

CNN STAFFERS IN SHOCK ABOUT JIM ACOSTA'S ABRUPT EXIT FROM THE NETWORK

Known for his melodramatic style of reporting as White House correspondent and then news anchor at CNN, Acosta announced in January he was leaving the network after he was offered a midnight time slot instead of a dayside one.

The left-wing anchor, who injected editorializing into his reporting on President Donald Trump and others, started "The Jim Acosta Show" on Substack, where he hosts a liberal podcast and also blogs and reports.

In one of the most bizarre moments of the year in journalism, Acosta in August "interviewed" the artificially animated avatar of deceased teenager Joaquin Oliver, who died in the Parkland massacre, to promote a gun control message. 

Although the teenager's father endorsed the stunt, the interview drew significant criticism about the ethics of essentially putting words in the mouth of a deceased person and underscored Acosta's hyperpartisan approach.

JOY REID SAYS MSNBC FIRED HER WITHOUT WARNING, SPECULATES HER COVERAGE OF TRUMP, GAZA LED TO OUSTER

The long-time anchor for MSNBC — now known as MS NOW — was abruptly fired in February from hosting "The ReidOut." Reid has speculated it was because of her outspoken stance on the Gaza war and Trump but said she never received a true reason for the ouster.

Reid started "The Joy Reid Show" in June, where she's brought her far-left commentary and interviews to more than 382,000 subscribers on YouTube and counting.

Among her highlights this year, which included numerous interview appearances on other shows, are sharing a video suggesting the song "Jingle Bells" is racist, mocking Erika Kirk's attire in the wake of her husband Charlie's assassination and suggesting Trump might not have really been shot last year.

The longtime ABC correspondent parted ways with the network in June after being suspended for his social media rant against Trump and policy adviser Stephen Miller, when he referred to each man as a "world-class hater."

Moran, who had just weeks earlier interviewed Trump in the Oval Office, went the Substack route, naming his site "Real Patriotism."

EX-ABC NEWS REPORTER ADMITS EMPLOYER BIASED AGAINST TRUMP DUE TO LACK OF ‘VIEWPOINT DIVERSITY’

He also lauded the rise of alternative media that he's now part of with his Substack.

"The new media is messy, chaotic and sometimes misinformed. But it cannot be denied that this new journalism is more democratic, more diverse and less captured by corporate interests pretending that ‘objectivity’ means silence about reality. The future is here," he wrote.

Todd left NBC News in January after an 18-year run at the network and relaunched his "Chuck ToddCast" podcast in April.

He cited a loss of faith in national media when he made the move.

CHUCK TODD WARNS THAT DEMS ARE FALLING INTO TRUMP’S TRAP, 'TAKING THE BAIT' ON REDISTRICTING

"The reason why I am ready to move, I think the media has a lot of work to do to win back the trust and I think, frankly, national media isn’t the place that’s going to be able to do it," Todd said. 

The former "Meet the Press" moderator doesn't hesitate to ding Democrats on his podcast, but much of his commentary is solidly anti-Trump.

The longtime Washington Post columnist left the paper in January over anger at owner Jeff Bezos, who quashed the paper's endorsement of Kamala Harris for president the previous year.

The stridently anti-Trump writer, who was once the paper's token conservative opinion writer but sharply veered to the left, started "The Contrarian" with Norm Eisen, a "pro-democracy" Substack that would feature "fearless and distinctive reported opinion and cultural commentary without phony balance, euphemisms or gamified political punditry."

"We’ve watched as corporate and billionaire owners of media outlets abused their audiences’ loyalty and undercut journalism’s vital role in a free democracy," Rubin said in a statement at the time. "Instead of safeguarding democratic values, they have enabled the gravest threats to democracy – Donald Trump and his allies – at the very time when a robust and independent press is most essential. We need an alternative, truly independent outlet that is unafraid of the administration and unwilling to equivocate or bend the knee."