The Guardian has published its seventh annual Top 100 most powerful people in media (registration needed) – though one of the listings (Facebook at number 100) is a site not a person. Eric Schmidt, Google ceo tops the list, followed by Rupert Murdoch, Mark Thompson, BBC DG, Michael Grade, famous TV mogul and new boss of ITV and James Murdoch, ceo of Sky.
The old media certainties are no more. In a world where print journalists have become podcasters, video-on-demand has replaced the video cassette, and two-year-old new media start-ups sell for $1.65bn, it is apt there should be a changing of the guard in the MediaGuardian 100. So this year we ripped up the list and started again with the help of several new members on our panel of judges. Out of the list go the likes of Radio 4 controller Mark Damazer and Daily Express editor Peter Hill, in come the vanguard of the social networking revolution – YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steven Chen, MySpace chief executive Chris DeWolfe, and Bebo’s Michael Birch. Nearly half of this year’s list are new entries.