Hollywood's striking movie and television writers received the most votes by far in an online poll by I Want Media to name the 2007 Media Person of the Year.

In a landslide victory, "Writers on Strike" attracted a whopping 56 percent of the total vote in the sixth annual contest. The writers beat out media figures like mogul Rupert Murdoch -- the first runner-up, with a mere 13 percent of the vote, and a favorite of several industry commentators. (One suspects that a number of the striking writers, with lots of spare time on their hands, may have done some voting for themselves.)

> 2006: STEPHEN COLBERT > 2005: ANDERSON COOPER > 2004: JON STEWART > 2003: BONNIE FULLER > 2002: MARTHA STEWART

The 12,000-member Writers Guild of America announced the walkout on Nov. 5, after failing to come to terms with studio and network execs on a new contract over payment for when shows are distributed online and in other new media. One TV writer described the work stoppage as "the first Internet strike." Other industry observers saw the walkout as no less than "a struggle for power" over the digital future of the entertainment industry.

Readers of I Want Media nominated 10 candidates to this "media menagerie" and sent thousands of hits to the week-long Media Person of the Year poll. The winner last year was Stephen Colbert, the satirical cable-news pundit, who followed a real newsman, CNN's Anderson Cooper, in 2005.

This year's 10 candidates:

Conrad Black. The former newspaper magnate is the first media CEO to face prison time since Martha Stewart (I Want Media's 2002 Media Person of the Year). Black's sentence, set to be issued Dec. 10, is expected to be a bit stiffer -- a possible 35 years behind bars for "looting" millions of dollars from the former Hollinger International, the newspaper company whose holdings include the Chicago Sun-Times. Black, who was found guilty in July of obstruction of justice and mail fraud, has somehow acquired a disdain for the press. The disgraced media man says: "A substantial number of journalists are ignorant, lazy, opinionated and intellectually dishonest."

Google. No, Google is not a "person," per se. But the Internet behemoth seems to be taking on a life of its own, as it aims to extend its dominance in search advertising into newspapers, radio, cellphones, video games, and possibly television and magazines. Its YouTube video-sharing site already has Hollywood execs sweating, prompting "old media" this year to launch Hulu, their own video site. Google (which is a mere three years older than I Want Media) has a market cap of more than $200 billion, bigger than Time Warner, CBS, Viacom and Disney combined. Yet, Google execs keep telling their potential partners in traditional media: "Don't fear us."

Perez Hilton. The oft-sued celebrity gossip blogger (aka Mario Lavandeira) expanded his brand into television this year, with his "What Perez Sez" series of snarky specials for VH1. Meanwhile, the weekly page views for PerezHilton.com are said to have skyrocketed to some 35 million. In July, he boasted to I Want Media: "I have helped change the way people consume celebrity news." True, his bitchy blog "doodles" have influenced mainstream successes like AOL's TMZ.com. Perez may have even managed to lower the bar of celebrity coverage set by infamous editor Bonnie Fuller (2003 Media Person of the Year). His message to Bonnie: "It's time to retire."

Don Imus. The shock jock put his foot in his mouth big time in April, when he described members of the Rutgers University women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos." The on-air remark sparked a firestorm of anti-racist protest. Within days, MSNBC dropped its simulcast, then CBS fired the radio star -- a fast and stunning fall. But there's a second act for this American life: Imus signed a deal with Citadel in October to return to the radio airwaves. CBS has been criticized as being too harsh for dropping Imus's show. The debate remains: Should Imus have been fired for his "objectionable expression," as described by CBS boss Les Moonves?

Joanne Lipman. The editor in chief of Conde Nast Portfolio may be the most scrutinized figure in the magazine world since Tina Brown. Lipman's moves have inspired nearly nonstop chatter among media reporters and bloggers since the launch of the business glossy in April. But why is Lipman, a Wall Street Journal veteran, such a star editor? Maybe it's because she's heading up a new franchise for Conde Nast that is expected to cost $100 million to get off the ground. Or perhaps it's due to the quick exit of several high-profile senior editors and contributors. Or maybe it's because, in this increasingly digital world, Portfolio could be the last big magazine launch.

Rupert Murdoch. Who had a bigger year than the kingpin of News Corp? Not only did Murdoch scoop up Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones -- an acquisition he described as one of his most important -- he also launched the Fox Business Network, a business-news channel that intends to trounce CNBC like his Fox News did with CNN. Murdoch, 76, is already seen as a "rock star" in Silicon Valley for his savvy purchase of MySpace. Possibly the only prize he's yet to nab is Media Person of the Year. (He's the only figure to have been a finalist in I Want Media's poll for the past six years but has never won.) Will 2007 be his year?

Rosie O'Donnell. The outspoken multimedia star had an eventful '07. In April, after just a few months as co-host of ABC's "The View," O'Donnell announced her plans to leave the hit daytime chatfest, sparking talk of trouble behind the scenes. Her candid nature may have made her "difficult," but she was also credited with giving the show a big ratings boost. O'Donnell publicly feuded with Donald Trump, published a tell-all, "Celebrity Detox," and came close to getting her own prime-time talk show on MSNBC. She wrote on her blog about her MSNBC near miss: "My career as a pundit is over b4 it began." One suspects Rosie's punditry career is far from over.

Arthur Sulzberger Jr. The publisher of the New York Times oversaw a year of significant change. The newspaper company relocated to a dazzling Renzo Piano-designed skyscraper, merging the Times's print and digital newsrooms. The move was followed swiftly by a price hike for the flagship paper -- as it shrank in physical size by an inch and a half. The Times-controlling Sulzberger family beat back activist shareholder Morgan Stanley, ending a long battle over the dual-class share system that keeps the clan in charge. All of the activity hopefully toughened up Sulzberger for his next big fight: Rupert Murdoch plans to redo the Wall Street Journal to take on the Times.

Writers on Strike. More than 12,000 Writers Guild of America members went on strike in early November, the first walkout of screenwriters since 1988. Their beef: more money for movies and television shows distributed via the Internet and wireless devices. The core problem: entertainment content companies have yet to figure out how to value new media. (Ex-Disney boss Michael Eisner quipped that writers should instead strike "in three years," when the profit from digital content won't be "nonexistent.") In the meantime, the stoppage has threatened to bring Hollywood to its knees, estimated to cost the Los Angeles economy some $20 million per day.

Mark Zuckerberg. The Facebook boy turned down a nearly $1 billion offer from Yahoo to buy his fast-growing social-networking site. That may have been a smart decision. In October, the 23-year old founder/CEO sold a 1.6% stake to Microsoft for $240 million, valuing the startup at a whopping $15 billion. With Facebook's growth rate easily outpacing that of rival MySpace, can anything stop Zuck's 3-year-old "social utility"? A new advertising program unveiled in November quickly provoked gripes from users who were surprised to find data about their online purchases was being forwarded to others. The move has been called "Facebook's biggest gamble."

Don't see your choice? Submit your nomination. Be sure to include a brief explanation as to why your candidate deserves to be recognized. Comments may be posted on the site.

COMMENTS:

• "Rupert Murdoch --- he's the man of 2007. He had a Big Dream -- becoming the baron of business news, buying the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones, and launching the Fox Business Network all this year. He made it happen, despite challenges that would have deterred almost any other human being.

  "But I'm also nominating NBC's Ben Silverman as a contender for Media Person of 2008. He already practically gave birth to reality TV, and I predict a positive ratings reversal at his home network."
  
  — Bonnie Fuller, American Media, (2003 Media Person of the Year)

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• "I'll agree with Arianna and second Mark Zuckerberg. No one has prompted more discussion and excitement (and competitive derision) in media circles. There's no question that Google and Rupert are more powerful and influential, but Zuckerberg gets full marks for seemingly knowing and having things that both covet, and creating a brand/utility/whatever that is weirdly powerful and surprisingly broad. Unlike the other titans in the running, history would suggest that the chances of Zuckerberg topping the list next year or the year after that are against him, but he gets my vote for shaking up the here and now."
  
  — Richard Siklos, Fortune

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• "I give the nod to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook -- and not just because he had the huevos to turn down $1 billion from Yahoo! Murdoch expanded his media reach and Google continues to gobble up the online universe, but Zuckerberg and his social networking baby were able to pull off a rare quinella: entering the Establishment's Zone of Respectability while retaining the patina of hipness. In 2007, Facebook was simultaneously cool enough for my 16 and 18-year old daughters and safe enough for ABC and Microsoft to get into business with it, and a mogul like Barry Diller to have a page there.

  "Sea Change Moment: In January at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Zuckerberg was addressing a small group of media players from around the world. At one point, fellow Media Person of the Year nominee Arthur Sulzberger Jr. raised his hand and asked the 23-year-old Facebook founder, 'How do we improve our community at the New York Times?' 'You have no community,' replied Zuckerberg, without a hint of malice. Next question?"
  
  — Arianna Huffington, The Huffington Post

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• "Rupert Murdoch, for understanding the economics of media in a digital era with remarkably intuitive clarity. To my mind his plan to make WSJ.com free and open to all, trading limited direct revenues for maximum reach, marks the end of a decade’s debate over media business models online. Open beat closed and free beats paid, and if you're not part of the wider conversation on the Web you might as well not exist for the generation that's growing up online. Murdoch gets this, and it will be fascinating to see what the owner of MySpace will do to build social media into WSJ.com, turning its readership into a business community."
  
  — Chris Anderson, Wired

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• "Hearst Magazines president Cathie Black had an incredible 2007, with her unit seemingly the most desirable magazine company to work for (Hearst Tower helps) and her book, 'Basic Black,' winning acclaim. If there would be an 'un-Media Person of the Year,' I would nominate Howard Stern, whose Sirius deal made him very rich, but -- except to his die-hard fans -- very forgotten, because satellite radio does not yet have mass appeal. Will Stern and his lewdness go the way of Andrew Dice Clay?"
  
  — Steve Cohn, Media Industry Newsletter

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• "Rupert Murdoch: He didn't overpay for America's most influential brand in business journalism just to pump more money into it and preserve the status quo. Once a game changer, always a game changer."
  
  — Frank Rich, New York Times

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• "Google. Rupert Murdoch's a close second, but his big plays this year have seemed driven more by vanity and hubris than shrewdness -- the Fox business channel will fail, and while he may well make the Journal better, the paper will not in his lifetime (or probably ever) overtake the New York Times as the global paper of record, or justify the price he paid for it. Murdoch's the Media Person of the Decade, but that decade was the 1990s, when the Fox Network came of age, Fox News launched, and he brought News Corp. back from the brink of ruin. Murdoch is a hundred times more interesting than Sergey Brin and Larry Page, but Google's plan for world domination is just getting started."
  
  — Kurt Andersen

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• "I'll think a bit more, but I might figure it's the emerging coalitions of investigative reporters -- Center for Media and Democracy, Sunlight Foundation, Consumers Union -- dedicated to exposing the front groups that specialize in disinformation/scams online. (I've joined the boards of the last two organizations.) Their long-term effects might be huge, starting with the November elections.

  "Of course, there's also Jimmy Wales. It used to be that the powerful got to write history and shape our ideas. Now, everyone has a chance to participate with Wikipedia. It's also doing a good job building the means to deal with disinformation. All of this is led by Jimmy Wales, in a way that might change all media."
  
  — Craig Newmark, Craigslist

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• "The Media Person of the Year is Jon Friedman. If Time could get away last year with naming 'You,' then it stands to reason that I can name 'Me.' "
  
  — Jon Friedman, MarketWatch

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• "Steve Jobs – the iPhone, for again expanding and linking media with technology in a unique format. Or, Rafat Ali, publisher of paidcontent.org, the Perez Hilton of the new media news space."
  
  — Cyndi Schoenbrun, Consumer Reports

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• "Bill Falk, unsung editor of The Week, which is the fastest growing weekly in America. Quietly puts out one of the smartest magazines around that proved there is intelligent life in the universe."
  
  — Tina Brown

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• "Rupert Murdoch is a formidable contender, but my vote would go to Google. The company is a disruptive force in nearly every media industry. They have a 60 percent global market share in search. With their purchase of DoubleClick in April, Google will be a dominant force in online advertising. They dominate user generated video content with their ownership of YouTube. With 'cloud computing' and the Apps Google crafts, they menace Microsoft. With their vow to create a free operating system for mobile phones, AT&T and Verizon execs have probably had a few sleepless nights."
  
  — Ken Auletta, The New Yorker

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• "Rupert Murdoch, no contest. He makes news, he buys newspapers. He's old media (WSJ); he's new media (MySpace). Murdoch launched a business news channel and has made enough news to fill its airwaves for months to come."
  
  — David Carr, New York Times

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• "My choice: Mona Shaw, the 75-year-old retiree who went 'Com-smash-tic' at her local Comcast cable office, busting up computers and telephones with a hammer out of frustration over poor customer service. My runner-up: Reuters reporter Robert MacMillan, who braved strong-arming by security guards while attempting to interview Rupert Murdoch at Dow Jones's offices. No, seriously, it's Rupert Murdoch, hands down. Buying Dow Jones and launching Fox Business Network in the same year is no small feat."
  
  — Patrick Phillips, I Want Media

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