• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, July 6, 2009

Newsweek Editor in Chief Jon Meacham, Rush Limbaugh and Oprah Winfrey are among the most influential people in media, according to a new ranking of the industry's elite.

This list of media influencers, or "Power Grid," is a featured part of Mediaite.com, the latest media venture from Dan Abrams, the chief legal analyst for NBC News and msnbc.com, who last year launched Abrams Research, a media consulting practice.

Names like Oprah or New York Times Editor Bill Keller atop the list aren't so surprising. But unlike other media power rankings that may rely heavily on reader input and editorial judgment, the awkwardly named Mediaite touts a proprietary algorithm that combines traditional metrics like net worth, magazine sales and ratings with those that track online buzz-Google hits, blog mentions and Twitter followers.

What's more, the rankings of the roughly 1,500 people tracked in the Power Grid will be fluid, changing in real-time as events dictate. So a blogger breaking a big story or a reporter's coverage getting picked up by the major networks would push them up the influence charts.

The site also boasts having a separate algorithm for each media category, from media moguls to magazine editors to top TV executives. Moguls are judged based on estimated company valuation, net worth and online buzz, for example -- while Nielsen ratings and online buzz are used to rank TV anchors. Think of being able to see which anchor moved up from No. 215 to 178.

What if you haven't even opened your own Twitter account yet? Don't worry. Mediaite says it "won't punish" people who are not actively Twittering because the micro-blogging service is still in a relatively early stage of adoption. But it will (slightly) favor those who have been tweeting all along and have an active group of Twitter followers.

"The Power Grid will become a must-see online for anyone who is connected to, or interested in the media," said Abrams, Mediaite's owner and publisher, in a statement. "The fluidity of the rankings that will change every few days underscores how quickly news cycles turn. This is a fun and addictive measure of what's happening throughout the media -- online, on air, and in print."

If the difficulty accessing the site Monday afternoon was a result of heavy traffic straining the servers, Abrams is right as far as the first day goes. But it's not hard to imagine insecure moguls checking their ranking each day (or hour) to make sure they are still on top, or the media-obsessed tracking the list to see who's up and who's down.

Who knows -- maybe a virtual futures market could spring up around such a media influence index? As of Monday, it appeared the market was shorting Sean Hannity and long on Arianna Huffington.

Beyond the Power Grid, Mediaite aims to compete with the scores of other media-focused sites out there, including the HuffingtonPost.com, Gawker.com, The Daily Beast and the newer SlantMagazine.com, among others. Colbly Hall, a former writer and producer for networks including MTV and CNN is on board as Mediaite's editor along with former HuffPo media editor Rachel Sklar, who will serve as editor at large. Sklar also teamed up with Abrams to start Abrams Research in November, which initially came under criticism from Gawker and outlets for its business model that included enlisting working journalists as paid consultants. In a note to readers on the site, Abrams says the new site is completely separate from Abrams Research: "It is very straightforward: this site is separate and distinct from that business. It's no different than any other individuals and/or media companies with an interest in more than one venture. Furthermore, here the editorial team has complete autonomy."

He adds that the site will be monetized via various revenue streams including integrated sponsorships, innovative ads, an interactive job board and events and conferences. HBO is serving as launch sponsor, promoting the upcoming season of "Entourage."

With so much competition from existing media and entertainment blogs and sites, Mediaite will have to count on its media influence rankings to stand apart. Otherwise its stock could fall quickly.