Larry Page, the co-founder and chief executive of technology giant Google, has been named the most powerful person in the media in the Guardian’s annual power list, the MediaGuardian 100.
The upper reaches of the list, published on Monday, is dominated by the heads of US technology companies, but also features actor and comedian Lenny Henry and singer Taylor Swift in its top 10.
It is the fourth time that Page been at its summit. He is described as “one of the most influential minds of his generation” who “changed the way we interact with the world and how we understand it”.
But it also warned that Google, co-founded by Page and Sergey Brin in a friend’s California garage in 1997, faced a backlash on issues from privacy and security to tax avoidance and competition issues.
Facebook’s founder and chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, is in second place, a reflection of the global reach of the social network that now has 1.35 billion users. Apple’s chief executive, Tim Cook, is ranked third following a year in which he has emerged from the shadow of his predecessor, Steve Jobs.
With Rupert Murdoch in seventh place, the US domination of the top of the list is broken only by the BBC’s director general Tony Hall, who is ranked the fourth most powerful person in the media.
Hall’s BBC, criticised by the government last week over its coverage of the spending cuts, is rarely out of the spotlight. The debate about its future scale and the size of the licence fee will begin in earnest after next year’s general election.
Lenny Henry, one of this year’s highest new entries, was recognised for “almost single-handedly putting TV’s lack of racial diversity at the top of the agenda”.
The star, who will celebrate 40 years in television next year, used a Bafta lecture to criticise broadcasters for the “appalling” drop in black, Asian and minority ethnic people in the creative industries. All of the main UK broadcasters responded with new initiatives on diversity, but Henry has called on them to go further.
Taylor Swift, the 24-year-old Shake It Off singer, was another new entry in the top 10 after she took on Spotify, withdrawing her entire back catalogue from the streaming music service and putting the issue of artist remuneration firmly in the spotlight.
The rapidly changing media landscape and the changing way we consume content is represented by new entries including Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg, the Swedish YouTube sensation with nearly 32.5 million subscribers; Ted Sarandos, the chief content officer of video-on-demand service Netflix; and Shane Smith, the co-founder and chief executive of the influential Vice multimedia empire.
There is also a place, at number 100, for Kim Kardashian, the reality TV star and quintessential digital-age celebrity. With more than 20 million followers on Twitter and photo-sharing service Instagram, Kardashian became a star on TV but is now indicative of a new breed who can reach their fans without it.
Other new entries include culture secretary Sajid Javid; Rona Fairhead, the new chair of the BBC Trust; and Ben Priest of the ad agency behind the John Lewis “Monty the Penguin” Christmas campaign.
Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch and Russell Brand, rarely out of the headlines in recent days, also appear for the first time. Cumberbatch’s “star shines brightest”, according to the list, with the actor tipped for Oscar glory for his role as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game.
It is the 14th time the MediaGuardian 100 has appeared since 2001. Based on cultural, economic and political influence, it was put together with the help of 10 industry experts and is intended as a snapshot of media power today. Traditionally UK-centric, the parameters were widened this year to reflect a digital age in which national boundaries have become largely irrelevant.
