Kelly will choose a path while Greenwald and Silver lead new media projects. | AP Photos 10 journalists to watch in 2014

It’s shaping up to be another exciting year ahead in media and politics: New media ventures, new editors, new anchors … and new challenges for all.

Several journalists came into the national spotlight this past year, but 2014 is when they’ll be asked to prove themselves. Glenn Greenwald and Nate Silver are spearheading bold new media projects. Nancy Gibbs is trying to recreate an old print magazine for the 21st century. Ronan Farrow and Brian Stelter are taking their first shots at television, while Lara Logan of “60 Minutes” is looking for a shot at redemption.


Here are 10 journalists to watch in 2014:

1. The Greenwald Gang, “First Look Media”

Glenn Greenwald may be the most fortunate man in media: He lives in Rio de Janeiro, was the chief recipient of the most significant leak in American history, and, in 2014, will be the lead player in a well-financed new investigative journalism venture backed by a billionaire tech entrepreneur.

In October, eBay founder Pierre Omidyar announced he was ready to spend at least $250 million to back the project, dubbed “First Look Media,” which “will publish robust coverage of politics, government, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, arts and culture, business, technology, and investigative news,” according to Omidyar. Along with Greenwald, he has brought on Laura Poitras (Greenwald’s partner in the NSA-leak saga), Jeremy Scahill and Dan Froomkin, among others.

First Look has been surrounded by hype and high expectations. Omidyar has already put up the first $50 million. Greenwald has repeatedly promised that there are more NSA revelations on the way. All eyes, especially the Obama administration’s, will be on Greenwald & Co.

( Also on POLITICO: Omidyar invests in Greenwald venture)

2. Ronan Farrow, MSNBC

So let’s say you’re the son of movie royalty, graduated college before you were old enough to drive, attended Yale Law School, joined the New York bar, traveled the world with UNICEF, worked for the Obama administration’s special committee on Afghanistan and Pakistan, served as a special adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and attended Oxford as a Rhodes scholar — and you’re still only 26 years old.

MSNBC has signed Farrow to host a daytime show, but they’re surely positioning him for bigger things — most likely, an eventual prime-time slot. 2014 will be his year to demonstrate that he is a capable television personality. If he succeeds, he could even become the new face of the liberal-leaning network.

The show is set to debut in January. To date, however, Farrow has been coy about what’s on tap: “We’ve got some really cool ideas for the show,” Farrow said during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” in October. “But it’s got to pass muster with this crowd right here; otherwise I’m going to be hazed.”

3. Lara Logan, “60 Minutes”

In 2014, Lara Logan will return to “60 Minutes” — with a vengeance.

When Logan was put on a leave of absence in November — after relying on a fraudulent source for her now-retracted report on the terrorist attack in Benghazi — not all of her colleagues wanted her back. The reasons for the “60 Minutes” mistake ran much deeper than Logan, but some members of the team were so upset at what her report had done to the show’s reputation that they lobbied for her dismissal.

Now, Logan, long a highly regarded journalist, has a lot to prove — as does “60 Minutes” itself. Her reporting will be heavily scrutinized inside and outside of CBS. And getting the facts right won’t be enough. She’ll need to bring in landmark stories that earn her — and her newsmagazine — enough praise to eclipse 2013’s shortcomings.

( Also on POLITICO: Lara Logan to return to '60 Minutes')

4. Megyn Kelly, Fox News

Megyn Kelly became the new face of Fox News prime time in 2013, rode a tide of high ratings and highly favorable press coverage … and then waded into controversy and turned into the laughingstock of late night.

Days after telling Jay Leno that she was a serious news anchor, Kelly went on Fox and stressed to America’s children that both Santa Claus and Jesus were white. The remark, which touched off a firestorm of debate and which she continued to defend, spoiled whatever goodwill she had been given by Fox News skeptics.

The question is: Where does Kelly go from here? Does she try to reassert herself as the serious anchor — touting a background in law and local news — or does she continue to wade into inflammatory topics to drive up ratings and stoke the coals of the culture war? Ultimately, that’s up to Roger Ailes, the Fox News chief. But Kelly is the weather vane: Whither she, whither Fox.

( Also on POLITICO: Megyn Kelly: Santa reaction was race-baiting)

5. The New FiveThirtyEight Crew, ESPN

Nate Silver’s name is synonymous with political forecasting. The new FiveThirtyEight, at ESPN, will seek to broaden the model to the world of … well, everything.

“We’re going to take the principles that he’s well-known for and apply them across our whole culture, anything that can be measured — with the idea that we can be the antidote to punditry and conventional wisdom, to try and tell stories that are based on something solid,” says Mike Wilson, the site’s new managing editor.

Can it be done? 2014 will be the great trial run. Silver has brought on a wealth of talent, including 538 veteran Micah Cohen and ex-Wall Street Journal “Numbers Guy” Carl Bialik, among others. Wilson says they plan to launch after the Super Bowl, with an eye toward sports — “you’ll see a lot of stuff from us on the NCAA tournament and especially the World Cup,” he says.

But politics isn’t out of the mix, by any stretch: “We will predict all 435 congressional districts, all 33 or 34 Senate seats up for grabs, and 30-plus gubernatorial races around the country,” Wilson says. “We’ll do analysis predictions on every single office this November.”

6. Carolyn Ryan, The New York Times

The New York Times’ Washington bureau suffered from some internal confusion in 2013. Its bureau chief, David Leonhardt, may have been a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, but he lacked an editor’s disposition. 2014 is the year in which the Times will try to fix all that.

In November, the paper announced that Leonhardt would be replaced by political editor Carolyn Ryan. She is now tasked with beefing up the paper’s political coverage at a time when the competition is fiercer than ever.

Ryan has quite a few new tools in her arsenal, including Jonathan Martin, Jason Horowitz and Matt Apuzzo, all of whom joined the Times this year. The spaces to watch will be 2014 midterms coverage and, of course, the all-important run-up to the presidential election in 2016.

7. Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo, The Washington Post and The New York Times

The Associated Press’s Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo were the 21st century’s Woodward and Bernstein: They exposed the CIA-thwarted al Qaeda plot in Yemen; broke the news that Robert Levinson was working with the CIA when he went missing in Iran; and led the investigation into the NYPD’s post-9/11 secret intelligence operations targeting Muslims that won a Pulitzer. (In 2013, they published their first book: “Enemies Within: Inside the NYPD’s Secret Spying Unit and bin Laden’s Final Plot Against America.”)

Then, in October, the two parted ways. Goldman went to The Washington Post, while Apuzzo decamped to The New York Times two months later. In 2014, the two will find themselves going head-to-head for the national security scoops they used to share, on behalf of two newspapers with a vested interest in being first on major intelligence exclusives. It will be a boon to readers to have Goldman and Apuzzo going against each other.

8. Glenn Beck, The Blaze

Two years after leaving Fox News, Glenn Beck is more powerful than ever: His television network, The Blaze, has been picked up by Dish Network and several cable distributors, his radio program continues to command a wide and passionate audience, and his pockets are flush. 2014 will almost surely mark a year of continued growth for the Beck empire.

The question is whether we will see the return of Beck’s high-profile political theater: In 2010, he staged a “Restoring Honor” rally at the Lincoln Memorial that drew a huge crowd to the National Mall. Since then, the showman has been content with small, controversial on-air gags — like painting a picture of Obama in a yellow liquid and calling it “Obama in Pee Pee” — and lower-profile speaking gigs.

Already, there are rumors that he may have bigger ambitions for the year ahead. Just this month, Beck and Fox News host Sean Hannity teased a forthcoming conservative summit to be attended by Beck, Hannity, Mark Levin and even Rush Limbaugh. In a midterm election year, especially, Beck’s mix of circuslike showmanship and libertarian rhetoric could make him a potent political force.

9. Brian Stelter, CNN

While Brian Stelter was at The New York Times, his name was known to almost everyone in the media industry. Well-sourced and hard-working, he was the go-to guy for media scoops on the broadcast, cable and publishing beats.

Now, as Stelter moves to CNN, where he recently began hosting “Reliable Sources,” there are two things to look for in the months ahead. First, can he turn a late-Sunday-morning show into something that matters to people outside of the media industry? Second, can he continue to be a source for media scoops while distracted by the responsibilities of television?

And there’s an added twist: With “Reliable,” Stelter is now going head-to-head with the man who used to occupy his chair, and the man who for decades was seen as America’s leading media reporter and critic: Howard Kurtz, who earlier this year went to Fox News.

10. Nancy Gibbs, Time magazine

This year, Nancy Gibbs became the first female managing editor in Time magazine’s history. “I’ve been surprised by how excited other women, especially young ones, are by my being in this role, which suggests that maybe I had underestimated how many women still see glass ceilings above them and cheer whenever they see another one break,” Gibbs says.

The challenges ahead are immense: Advertising revenue has dropped to about half of what it was in 2006. Newsweek’s demise has demonstrated the challenges of making a weekly print magazine relevant.

Gibbs isn’t fazed: “If Time were only a weekly newsmagazine, we would not have a bigger audience than ever in our 90-year history — and more people read Time digitally than in print,” she says. “We are a magazine, a 24/7 news site, a mobile product, an events host, a documentary film brand. And a year from now, I expect that list to be even longer since, as you know, Time does not stand still.”

Hadas Gold contributed to this story.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated former New Republic writer Nate Cohn had joined Nate Silver’s Five Thirty Eight; he has joined The New York Times. Micah Cohen has signed on with Five Thirty Eight.

CORRECTION: Corrected by: Jessica Huff @ 12/26/2013 10:27 AM CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated former New Republic writer Nate Cohn had joined Nate Silver’s Five Thirty Eight; he has joined The New York Times. Micah Cohen has signed on with Five Thirty Eight.