poll

2009 was a remarkably troubled year for magazine publishing. But a few titles were able to eke out some positive attention and influence over the field — thanks, in part, to the vision and leadership of their editors. In our first end-of-year media poll, we ask our loyal, smart, and attractive users to share their thoughts on who had the biggest year in various media categories. Our first category: Magazine Editors.

Bruce Wasserstein, a Wall Street investment banker who helped pioneer the hostile takeover in the 1980’s and turned the mergers and acquisitions business into a high art, died Wednesday. Mr. Wasserstein, 61, was the chairman and chief executive of Lazard. The cause of death could not be immediately learned, though he had been hospitalized earlier this week for what was described as an irregular heartbeat.

President Obama is dominating the press so thoroughly and alarmingly — what if he “cheapens his words, erodes his mystique” ! — that the press can’t seem to resist devoting as much space as possible to talking about it. So much so, it’s hard not to wonder if this is just a way to avoid parsing health care, which is the reason (initially, at least) that Obama has been “saturating” the airwaves. Whose “strategy” is this, anyway?