Most Influential Person in American Media

Who do you feel is currently the most influential person in the American Media? One of the major networks broadcasters? Al Franken? Bill O'Reily?
I'm looking for individual opinions and examples from everyone.

In my opinion, I think it may be Oprah Winfrey. While she isn't a political commentator, she holds a huge sway over her vast audience. Remember during the Mad Cow scare when she said she wouldn't eat beef? Beef prices dropped through the floor on the basis of a flip comment. Any book that is featured on "Oprah's Book Club" becomes an instant best seller, so she holds power over what a large number of people read, and therefore, probably over what they believe. Imagine if she instructed all of her viewers to read ATS!

Any thoughts on the topic are welcome.

Oprah is definitely up there. (Y'all ever seen the MAD TV skit on her and her pet Dr. Phil? It killz!! )

A few others who I think have a lot of pull are:

Jon Stewart
Ted Koppel
Bill Maher (sp?)

[edit on 6/6/05 by EastCoastKid]