MediaGuardian has just released its list of the top 100 most powerful men and women in the UK media, which it produces annually. This year's list, as last year's, reflected the growth and influence of digital media.

Only two print media figures made it into the top 10 this year (compared to four last year) - Rupert Murdoch (4) and his son James (8) who is in charge of News Corp's European and Asian arms. Three more are in the top 20: Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail and editor-in-chief at Associated Newspapers (13), Rebekah Brooks, CEO at News International (16) and Murdoch MacLennan, CEO at the Telegraph Media Group (17).

There was a feeling among the judging panel that newspapers' influence was continuing to wane, a Guardian blog posting said. "Far too much credence has been given to the influence of newspapers," said the panel. "The election was evidence that they are not the power we once thought."

Twenty two of the most powerful are from print media operations, however, twelve of whom are editors (the Guardian's Alan Rusbridger at 38 and the Times' James Harding at 48, behind Dacre.) Alexander Lebedev, owner of the Evening Standard and the Independent, rose from 80th to 40th place on the back of the purchase of the latter.

The top of the list definitely shows the impact of digital media: the number one spot, occupied for the past three years by Google's Larry Page and Sergey Brin, was taken for the first time by Apple's Steve Jobs, following this year's launch of the iPad and the latest iPhone. Page and Brin are in second place, followed by Mark Thompson, director general of the BBC. Evan Williams, co-founder of Twitter, appears at number 5, ahead of Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg at 7: both have jumped up four places from last year.

The remaining spots in the top 10 were taken by TV presenter Simon Cowell at number 6, Jeremy Hunt, culture secretary and a new entry at number 9, and ITV chairman Archie Norman was in tenth place.

Is the influence of newspapers actually waning? Can publishers still compete with Apple or Google for influence over the public? What can they do to work with such companies, and with social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, to maintain newspapers' relevance in an increasingly digital society?

Source: Guardian