Thompson Passes Murdochs on MediaGuardian Power Ranking

LONDON: The BBC’s director-general, Mark Thompson, is the most influential person in British TV, according to the MediaGuardian, sitting second on the newspaper’s annual 100 power list, just behind Google’s Sergey Brin and Larry Page and ahead of News Corporation’s Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch.

Google’s founders reclaimed the top spot in the MediaGuardian 100 this year, leading what the British newspaper calls the most powerful brand in the world. The BBC’s Thompson, meanwhile, ascended to the number two position, bumping James Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive for Europe and Asia at News Corp., to the number three position. Sitting in the number four spot is Apple’s co-founder, chairman and CEO, Steve Jobs, up from sixth place, alongside new entry Jonathan Ive, Apple’s senior VP of industrial design and the architect of the iPhone. Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer rose from seventh to fifth place, ahead of News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch, who slipped to sixth place. Simon Cowell, meanwhile, rose from being 14 on the list last year to seventh place.

Other television executives on the MediaGuardian 100 include BBC Trust’s chairman, Sir Michael Lyons (12); Peter Fincham, the director of television channels and online at ITV (14), BBC One controller Jay Hunt (15), Shine chief Elisabeth Murdoch (17) and Sky’s chief executive Jeremy Darroch (23).