Below is a short list of well-known broadcast journalists who (at least on a major platform like Twitter) have built a larger personal following than the main account of the network or program that employs (or recently employed) them. Social media numbers, of course, change over time, so consider these snapshots rather than static facts.
1. Rachel Maddow
- Employer: MSNBC
- Rachel Maddow’s Twitter: ~10+ million followers
- MSNBC’s Twitter: ~5–6 million followers
Rachel Maddow, host of The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, has a notably larger Twitter following than MSNBC’s main Twitter account.
2. Piers Morgan
- Most Recent UK Employer: ITV (when hosting Good Morning Britain), currently with TalkTV in the UK
- Piers Morgan’s Twitter: ~8+ million followers
- Good Morning Britain’s Twitter: ~1 million followers
- TalkTV’s Twitter: ~150k–200k followers (approx.)
While not always classified as a traditional “hard news” anchor, Piers Morgan has nonetheless been a high-profile broadcaster (CNN in the US, ITV in the UK, TalkTV) whose personal social media following outstrips that of the shows/networks that have employed him.
3. Jorge Ramos
- Employer: Univision
- Jorge Ramos’s Twitter: ~4+ million followers
- Univision’s Twitter: ~3+ million followers
Jorge Ramos, a prominent Spanish-language news anchor, is arguably the face of Univision for many viewers—yet on Twitter, his personal account typically has a larger following than the main Univision handle.
Why This Is Relatively Rare
Major news networks (e.g., CNN, Fox News, ABC, NBC) tend to have tens of millions of followers across platforms, making it difficult for an individual journalist to surpass the overall corporate brand’s reach. It’s more common to see an individual journalist exceed the social media following of a specific show’s account or a local affiliate’s handle rather than the entire network.
Examples of “close but not quite” cases:
- Anderson Cooper has 10+ million followers on Twitter, but CNN’s primary handle has over 60 million.
- Sean Hannity has 6+ million followers on Twitter, but Fox News has well over 20 million.
Notes and Caveats
- Platform Variation: A journalist might outpace an employer on Twitter but not on Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram (or vice versa). “Social media reach” can differ widely depending on which platforms are measured.
- Multiple Employers: Some journalists appear on multiple networks or have multiple professional affiliations. In these cases, you might see them outstrip one employer’s handle while not surpassing another’s.
- Rapidly Changing Follower Counts: Social media numbers are dynamic; the approximate figures listed above can change significantly in a short time.
These three (Maddow, Morgan, and Ramos) are some of the clearest, widely recognized examples of broadcast journalists who command a personal social media audience larger than at least one major handle of their employer.
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