Oprah Tops ForbesWoman‘s List Of Media’s Most Powerful Women

Long before Mediaite.com was just a twinkle in Dan Abrams‘ eye, Forbes was ranking the richest people in the world, the most powerful celebrities and just about anything worth ranking.

Today, the business magazine’s sister publication, ForbesWoman has put out its list of the 30 most influential women in the media world.

Not surprisingly, Oprah Winfrey tops the list, earning an unmatched $275 million last year. But earnings alone don’t translate to power, as the top five can contest. Joining Oprah are Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters, Ellen DeGeneres (the number two earner with $35 million last year) and Tyra Banks — the third top earner on the list with $23 million banked (ha) last year. Television journalists Sawyer and Walters pushed ahead of the top-earning talk show hosts thanks to the massive audiences they reach with their regular hosting gigs and primetime specials.

The whole list is a nice mix of traditional media and online media personalities and bloggers, like Arianna Huffington (number 12), Tina Brown (25) and mommy blogger and dooce.com founder Heather Armstrong (26).

Related: Amy Poehler, Rachael Ray and MTV’s McGrath Headling Gracie Awards

(Photo via Oprah.com)

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