A priceless member of News Ltd’s
Canberra bureau bailed up your correspondent in Parliament over lunch
last Thursday: “I saw your list of media power players,” he said,
through a mouthful of egg and lettuce sandwich. “John Hartigan only at
number 24? He employs half the people on the list!”

Our man from The Australian had a point, only underlined the next day when John Hartigan was named to replace Lachlan Murdoch as chairman of News Ltd.

Wiping the egg off our face, we decided to take a second look at the Power List – the most important 25 players
in the Australian media. Clearly, Hartigan deserves a place near the
top of the list compiled by Crikey and three other media types for
Thursday’s Radio National Media Report.

But who does he replace – John Laws? Peter Meakin? His editor-in-chief at The Australian,
Chris Mitchell? That’s the hard part, so let’s make it a little more
interesting and expand the original list from 25 to 50. That will make
room for some of the under-the-radar players, who otherwise missed
being scrutinised.

Some obvious questions worth asking:

Is the ABC’s influence declining?
Our
list included just two ABC people, Tony Jones and Andrew Denton,
leaving out Sandra Levy and Russell Balding. Does this reflect a fall
in Aunty’s relevance?

Who are our major political media players?
Is Laurie Oakes still the undisputed political heavyweight? Who are his challengers?

What about the sports media?
Australians pay more attention to sport than politics; so does that enhance the influence of someone like The Australian’s
sports columnist, Patrick Smith, who recently ran a massive, and
successful, campaign against the refusal of the AFL to sign up to the
World Anti-doping code.

What about Roy Masters, Australian Sports Commission Board member and Herald journalist? He has longevity and enormous clout, while well-connected Smage tyro Jacqueline Magnay is probably the most feared sports journalist.

Here, for the record, is our Media Power List Top 25

1 Rupert Murdoch: CEO, News Corporation

2 John Howard: Prime Minister

3 Kerry Packer: Exec Deputy Chairman, Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd

4 Helen Coonan: Minister for Communications, IT and Arts

5 James Packer: Exec Chairman, Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd

6 Kerry Stokes: Chairman, Seven Network

7 Graeme Samuel: Chairman, ACCC

=8 Sam Chisholm: Executive Director, PBL Television & Director, Foxtel

=8 Sol Trujillo: CEO, Telstra

10 Alan Jones: Broadcaster, 2GB

11 Peter Blunden: Editor-in-Chief, The Herald Sun

=12 Harold Mitchell: Chairman & CEO, Mitchell & Partners

=12 Peter Meakin: Director of News & Current Affairs, Seven Network

14 Chris Mitchell: Editor-in-Chief, The Australian

14 John Laws: Broadcaster, 2UE

=16 Eddie McGuire: TV presenter, Nine Network & Director, McGuire Media

=16 John Singleton: Exec Director, STW Group & major shareholder, Macquarie Radio Network

18 Tony Jones: Presenter, Lateline, ABC Television

19 Laurie Oakes: Political Correspondent, National Nine News & columnist, The Bulletin

=20 David Penberthy: Editor-in-Chief, The Daily Telegraph

=20 Neil Mitchell: Broadcaster, 3AW

22 Andrew Bolt: Columnist, The Herald Sun

23 Andrew Denton: Presenter & Executive Producer, Enough Rope, ABC TV

24 John Hartigan: CEO, News Limited

25 Grahame Morris: Director, Jackson Wells Morris.

Send your nominations to hugo@crikey.com.au, and we’ll put our Top 50 list up on site.