The Mediaite 50: Innovators And Influencers Who Shook Up 2009

15. Tina Brown, The Daily Beast

The Daily Beast is just over a year old. Two things seems strange about that. One, it feels like it’s been around longer, maybe because it represents a traditional, edited style of online work that is disappearing around us. And two, so many people were expecting it to die in the sad throes of the last year’s media massacre. And yet, the Beast thrives, and expands — there is now Sexy Beast, Fashion Beast, Book Beast, Art Beast and my favorite, Giving Beast. Meanwhile, founder and EIC Tina Brown has made it her business to be everywhere this year — all over Morning Joe, hosting panels and book parties and events, plus still writing buzzy columns (she was the first to really zero in on the “Hillary in the shadows” issue, and she gave us the phrase that has come to define the post-recession media world: The Gig Economy). Plus, they launched a superstar this year: Meghan McCain, who dipped her toes in the pundit pool first on that site, and blew up from that platform. People can hem and haw about how the DB is still not doing enough traffic and how will they ever make any money, but Barry Diller always said this was a long-term investment, and recent syndication deals suggest that they’ve got their eye on that ball too. And they’re launching a book imprint, for goodness sake. The Daily Beast has had a good year — and that comes back to Tina. RS

14. Andrew Breitbart, Breitbart.com

Though he’s not exactly a household name, Andrew Breitbart has long been a power player in the sphere of Internet influence and opinion. The former editor of The Drudge Report, and lead researcher and developer for The Huffington Post, Breitbart has since set out on his own, creating a number of sites that both aggregate and report from what he describes as a center right point-of-view. When Breitbart provided an exclusive interview with Mediate this year, he revealed big plans to grow his “Big” network of sites beyond Big Hollywood and Big Government (which he launched this Fall.) Big Journalism is set to launch next January, with more to follow in the coming year.

But his Internet empire is only part of the reason behind Breitbart’s story — he was ostensibly behind one of the biggest stories of the year: the hidden camera video that revealed government corruption at worst, or horrible management at best at local ACORN offices. This lead to an end of funding of ACORN and a pretty big indictment of both the government-funded program and the mainstream media outlets that ignored the story as well. Which is why Andrew Breitbart is a member of the Mediaite 50. -CH

13. Diane Sawyer, ABC News

Did anyone catch the news last night? If you’re one of those people who yawns and then Twitters about it, well, fine — so you’re not one of the close to 9 million people who watch ABC World News, or one of the 16+-million who tune in to NBC and CBS, every night. The evening news still matters, folks, and that anchor chair still commands power and influence, even if the Internet and the exploding cable-channel world has made it way less all-powerful than it used to be. And with this move Sawyer has revealed how important she is at that network — never mind that she came in and smoothly saved Good Morning America back in the day, her leaving has triggered a wave of change that has everyone worrying that George is no Diane. “Smooth” is the word so often used to describe her, and it described her first show last night — unlike Katie Couric‘s first show this was not a maiden outing, she’s done this before and has easily mastered Charlie Gibson‘s aplomb. She remains one of the news business’ top-drawer superstars. The past few weeks have shown us that, perhaps more so because of how unruffled that transition was. Sawyer is a pro. Look for her to move the needle in 2010. -RS

12. Lorne Michaels, Saturday Night Live

In a non-election year, how has SNL fared? Actually that’s almost not the point — because we’re talking about SNL. And so many naysayers spent the previous few years griping about how it sucked, it was never funny, and who the hell were these “blandos” in the cast, and I wouldn’t know this Kristen Wiig person if I fell over her, and wah, it sucked without Will Ferrell/Tina Fey/insert name of past SNL great here. And then that new cast gelled (as Michaels knew they would, because he’s been doing this for 35 years) and the breakouts started happening (“Lazy Sunday,” yes, but also “Dick In A Box” and “Really” and “Iran So Far” and “I’m On A Boat”). And though they were wobbly about the Internet at first, once SNL and NBC figured out that embeddable video was their friend, “Live From New York” now meant not only Saturday night but Sunday morning. So by the time SNL exploded with their election coverage (yes, Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, but Amy Poehler‘s pregnant Palin Rap may go down in history as one of the show’s top moments) — well, by that time the infrastructure was in place to keep the show high on the radar screen — which is exactly where they’ve stayed over this past year (despite the people who still gripe that it sucks). Yes there were a few clunkers (January Jones? Eek) but more than a few winners (“The Rock Obama” remains brilliant; Madonna/Gaga was epic; and the Taylors (Swift and Lautner) delivered like gangbusters). Also, those blandos are now coming into their own — Kristen Wiig is a flat-out star, Jason Sudeikis as Glenn Beck is already a media staple, and even Kenan Thompson is having a year like never before. Oh, and this is without even mentioning a little Emmy-delivering show like 30 Rock. P.S. Lorne Michaels is Canadian. -RS

11. Jon Stewart, Comedy Central

Jon Stewart often appears on lists with Stephen Colbert because how can you separate the two? They are America’s golden pair of satirists, ying to the other’s yang. But the wondrous magazine-saving powers of Colbert aside (and never mind his brilliant support for the troops and philanthropic example-giving), Stewart has remained America’s sardonic, skeptical voice (who, by the way, was way ahead of his audience in being willing to turn that skeptical eye on Obama), and in a year when trust in everyone seemed to dwindle (et tu, Tiger Woods?), Stewart was the guy named by a Time magazine poll as the most trusted news anchor, over BriWi, Charlie and Katie. And never mind that he has maybe a tenth of their combined audience; he moves the needle in that other important place: The Internet. (Ask any blogger, a day-after Jon Stewart clip is about the most reliable source of easy traffic you can get.) But more than that, there remains real substance in his work and that of his team: Calling out Fox for hyping tea parties with switched-in footage was an act of real journalism; and long before Jon Krakauer made news on MTP by calling out Gen. Stanley McChrystal he did so on The Daily Show. Oh and they got mixed up in international intrigue this year too, thanks to Jason Jones‘ antics in Iran (but they are so lovable that even Maziar Bahari couldn’t hold it against them). P.S. Who gave Colbert his job? So there’s that. -RS

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